Focus Wireless in Spam SMS Scandal
Beijing Morning News, 3/16/08
A consumer rights program on CCTV has accused China's leading mass sender of text messages, Focus Wireless, of sending hundreds of millions of spam messages per day and maintaining a database of two hundred million users - earning it an 80% share of the "spam SMS market."
Focus Wireless VP Ji Hairong said that recently the company has purchased many SMS wireless value-added service providers (SPs) and advertising firms, which may be responsible for the problem. Sun Wenxu, head of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC)'s Consumer Protection Bureau said that the industrial and commercial authorities are to work with other departments to tighten up supervision, forbid the sale of mass SMS sending devices, the trade in mobile phone user information, and the use of handsets to send fake adverts.
Editor's note: For additional background on recent developments related to SMS spam in China, please see:
NPC Member Proposes Curb on SMS Spam, MD 3/16/08 issue;
Guangdong Unicom to Tackle SMS Spam, MD 3/11/08 issue;
SMS Spam Next on Crackdown List, MD 1/25/08 issue;
China Mobile Filter to Block 50% of SMS Spam, MD 1/16/08 issue;
China Mobile Publishes 2008 Service Guidelines, MD 1/14/08 issue;
State Council Drafting Personal Data Protection Law, MD 4/27/08 issue.
Keywords: mobile advertising Focus Media FMCN Sun Wenxu SAIC Consumer Protection Bureau regulation CCTV consumer Focus Wireless Ji Hairong scandal SMS spam wireless
Sending
