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The Spam Tech Industry

Mehak Chawla writes that there is a whole industry that has come up around bulk SMS in India

SMS spam, or bulk SMS as many would say, has become an industry in its own right in India. There’s a whole bunch of unregulated industries propagating SMS spam in order to make a quick buck.the dicey regulation structure and the helplessness of troubled operators and consumers isn’t helping things. It’s got to the point where an estimated 100 million spam messages are sent every single day in India.

“now send Messages on DND Numbers Tension Free. Services at very attractive prices. for booking contact @ 0935*******”

This is a message, verbatim, that I received a couple of days back while I was still doing my research for this story and it left me dumb struck with its unscrupulousness. This shrieks loudly about the absence of any checks, accountability and, above all, is a blatant act of defiance. it seems all the more ironic when we consider the fact that mine has been a registered number with DND ever since the inception of the registry.

When I called at the given number and showed interest in buying their ‘tension free’ services, the person at the other end claimed that they were a ‘technology firm’ that can send SMS messages to filtered DND numbers through the use of sophisticated technology. the service of course was a bit expensive but then he reasoned so was his technology that would enable me to reach DND customers. he also reasoned as to why DND customers were the right target audience!

Abhijit Saxena, CEO, Netcore, felt that this had to do with the sociopolitical environment prevalent in the telecom space today in India. “SMS is a very low entry barrier for players. Many a times, you don’t even need to be a technology player to blast SMS messages. Not only is the technology fairly simple and inexpensive but even the databases are easily available. also, even if you want to be a registered telemarketer, the registration involved is a simple process,” he explained.

What is happening here is that people are earning through arbitrage. they buy a message at Rs. 1-1.5 and then send it at Rs.1.75 or 1.80, without any big investment. This market, thereby, is emerging as a safe haven for resellers.

What is interesting to note is that all of these ‘registered technology firms’ are openly flouting existing regulations. the impetus behind this is that the IT equipment required is easy to set up and doesn’t require much expertise.

as a result, a number of companies have sprung up to make quick money. Companies dedicated to offering SMS-based advertising solutions have been launched and they are able to reach 1,00,000 people for about Rs. 3,500.

“Flouting the regulations has become a norm and even some well known names are doing so openly. the technology is simple, you don’t need much to begin with,” explained Anmol Bhan, an independent technology writer.

there are solutions for operators to tackle spam and prevent it from reaching their customers. the catch here, however, is that services to deliver bulk SMS are a source of revenue for operators and, therefore, even if an operator knows that spam is being sent, there’s hardly any incentive to filter it out.

The regulatory scenario

This, say analysts, is where the real problem lies. the fresh cause for concern is that the new regulations for SMS spam that were supposed to be out in March 2011, have been indefinitely delayed. the earlier regulation, as is obvious, is not really working.

the big issue, according to Valerie Rozycki, Founder and CEO, ZipDial, was that the dividing line between promotional and transactional messages had been messed up. Ideally, all promotional messages should be blocked and only transactional ones should be allowed. the problem in India is that several things like air ticket booking and on-demand cricket scores and news are all clubbed under promotional.

No wonder then, that when the new regulation was on the horizon, vendors like JustDial and a few other brands started sending out SMS messages to their registered users saying that you won’t be able to receive messages from us if you are registered with DND.

therefore, to begin with, we need a regulation that clearly states what is promotional!

the other option, said Saxena, was to work on the lines of the TV industry, that follows regulations but is mostly self governed. Self-censorship, he felt, could be a viable model.

the other problem with regulation was that customers didn’t know where the accountability lay. On calling service providers, you would be informed that they would forward the complaint to the concerned party and we would hear back. the messages wouldn’t stop either.

A few things need to be clarified before holistic regulations can be put in place. Accountability and a strict code of penalties top the list.

mehak.chawla@expressindia.com

The Spam Tech Industry – Express Computer

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