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American Morning

Cell Phone Spam

Aired June 17, 2003 - 09:50   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: As if the flood of junk mail on your computer isn't bad enough, spam is now going wireless. For those who get spam, the scenes are familiar: repairing that credit, offering loans, or too-good-to-be true mortgage offers, and people with cell phones could end up - and this is the kicker in all of this - you end up paying for those unsolicited text messages, like the simulated ones that we just showed you there.
So what can do you about it? We have legal analyst Alex Wellen, specializing in high-tech security issues. He's with us from San Francisco to tell us more about this system, just kind of run amok here.

Alex, good morning.

ALEX WELLEN, ANALYST, HIGH-TECH LEGAL ISSUES: Good morning to you.

KAGAN: First of all, I think a lot of people with cell phones aren't quite getting this yet. So explain to us exactly what cell phone spam is?

WELLEN: So, it's much like e-mail spam, but it's being received on your cell phone and it's coming by way of a phone call. So you get a text message and it indicates to you - just like you were showing and explaining - that someone's advertising something. The question is whether it's unsolicited or whether you're asking for it by way of text messaging. But your phone rings or it beeps, there is that message. And you can decide at that point whether or not, you know, you want to get those things and whether that's part of the process.

The issue is, of course, is why is it such a problem now, of course? And the problem is that it's going to be a huge, huge -- a huge issue. Take, for example in Japan where they have tons of text messages going on - in the U.S., we do let's say a billion text messages in a month. In Japan, they do a billion in a day, and 80% of those messages, it's estimated, are unsolicited. So we're going to see a real big problem. It's good we deal with it now.

KAGAN: One of the things that's going to really tick people off is when you find out that you end up paying for it. Because you get docked for minutes? Is that how it works?

WELLEN: Yes. It depends on your service. You could end up paying - you may be paying for the provider who's trying to stop that from getting to you by increased fees or you may be paying a few cents every time you receive it. Now, providers are doing different things. Sometimes they'll credit you, other times, they'll give you some free messages. So they're trying to compensate you for that problem.

But if we see things grow the way they've grown in Europe, the way they've grown in Japan, it's going to be a real problem. The money will add up and it will just be an absolute inconvenience, because people will be getting so many messages. The phone will be ringing off the hook.

KAGAN: What can you do to keep yourself from getting all this phone spam?

WELLEN: Well, you know, sometimes there's nothing you can do. That's part of the reason we need to talk about it. For a lot of customers, they're a bit stuck. You can receive these things, often that are unsolicited. So people are doing them in blocks, they're sending them out there, the advertisers. And you're just getting hit. Even if you keep your number close to you, sometimes it's just going to be out there. What you need to do is report it to your provider. And often the providers will do something. If you give them enough information, they'll credit you. But it is a pain to take care of. And that's why some new laws would make it a real problem for those advertisers out there, because it would charge them huge fees if they do something that they're not supposed to be doing.

KAGAN: But without laws, all you can do is delete the text messages and be diligent about your cell phone bill?

WELLEN: You know, sadly, that's really the gist of it. There's no way that you can filter it at your end. You need - when you get a relationship with a provider, just as important as those minutes that you're paying for, and you say, well, how many minutes do I get for this much money? You should find out what they're doing about cell phone spam. Are they are filtering it out? How much are they doing that? Do you have to pay for it? Do you get free things?

And those are pretty important issues. What we really need is something like what's happening in Europe, some sort of opt-in process, where they can't contact you unless you say you can contact me.

KAGAN: Well, let's hope that comes through. Alex Wellen from San Francisco, thank you for that.

WELLEN: Thank you, Daryn.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired June 17, 2003 - 09:50   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: As if the flood of junk mail on your computer isn't bad enough, spam is now going wireless. For those who get spam, the scenes are familiar: repairing that credit, offering loans, or too-good-to-be true mortgage offers, and people with cell phones could end up - and this is the kicker in all of this - you end up paying for those unsolicited text messages, like the simulated ones that we just showed you there.
So what can do you about it? We have legal analyst Alex Wellen, specializing in high-tech security issues. He's with us from San Francisco to tell us more about this system, just kind of run amok here.

Alex, good morning.

ALEX WELLEN, ANALYST, HIGH-TECH LEGAL ISSUES: Good morning to you.

KAGAN: First of all, I think a lot of people with cell phones aren't quite getting this yet. So explain to us exactly what cell phone spam is?

WELLEN: So, it's much like e-mail spam, but it's being received on your cell phone and it's coming by way of a phone call. So you get a text message and it indicates to you - just like you were showing and explaining - that someone's advertising something. The question is whether it's unsolicited or whether you're asking for it by way of text messaging. But your phone rings or it beeps, there is that message. And you can decide at that point whether or not, you know, you want to get those things and whether that's part of the process.

The issue is, of course, is why is it such a problem now, of course? And the problem is that it's going to be a huge, huge -- a huge issue. Take, for example in Japan where they have tons of text messages going on - in the U.S., we do let's say a billion text messages in a month. In Japan, they do a billion in a day, and 80% of those messages, it's estimated, are unsolicited. So we're going to see a real big problem. It's good we deal with it now.

KAGAN: One of the things that's going to really tick people off is when you find out that you end up paying for it. Because you get docked for minutes? Is that how it works?

WELLEN: Yes. It depends on your service. You could end up paying - you may be paying for the provider who's trying to stop that from getting to you by increased fees or you may be paying a few cents every time you receive it. Now, providers are doing different things. Sometimes they'll credit you, other times, they'll give you some free messages. So they're trying to compensate you for that problem.

But if we see things grow the way they've grown in Europe, the way they've grown in Japan, it's going to be a real problem. The money will add up and it will just be an absolute inconvenience, because people will be getting so many messages. The phone will be ringing off the hook.

KAGAN: What can you do to keep yourself from getting all this phone spam?

WELLEN: Well, you know, sometimes there's nothing you can do. That's part of the reason we need to talk about it. For a lot of customers, they're a bit stuck. You can receive these things, often that are unsolicited. So people are doing them in blocks, they're sending them out there, the advertisers. And you're just getting hit. Even if you keep your number close to you, sometimes it's just going to be out there. What you need to do is report it to your provider. And often the providers will do something. If you give them enough information, they'll credit you. But it is a pain to take care of. And that's why some new laws would make it a real problem for those advertisers out there, because it would charge them huge fees if they do something that they're not supposed to be doing.

KAGAN: But without laws, all you can do is delete the text messages and be diligent about your cell phone bill?

WELLEN: You know, sadly, that's really the gist of it. There's no way that you can filter it at your end. You need - when you get a relationship with a provider, just as important as those minutes that you're paying for, and you say, well, how many minutes do I get for this much money? You should find out what they're doing about cell phone spam. Are they are filtering it out? How much are they doing that? Do you have to pay for it? Do you get free things?

And those are pretty important issues. What we really need is something like what's happening in Europe, some sort of opt-in process, where they can't contact you unless you say you can contact me.

KAGAN: Well, let's hope that comes through. Alex Wellen from San Francisco, thank you for that.

WELLEN: Thank you, Daryn.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com