Spam migrates to mobiles and gets more invasive - TOI Delhi 11 May 08

Spam migrates to mobiles and gets more invasive
Laura M Holson
If you thought spam on your computer was a bother, brace yourself: spammers want to find you on your cellphone. Some industry executives, along with consumer groups and security experts, are concerned that unwanted text messages on phones will be an even greater headache than unwanted computer messages. Cellphone spam is particularly annoying to its recipients because it is more invasive—announcing itself with a beep—and can be costly. Taber Lightfoot, an assistant director for new media at the Yale School of Management, is among those who have paid for the privilege of receiving cellphone spam. “I was at work and I got so annoyed,” she said of the first burst of three messages she received. She got another burst two days later. “That is when I called Verizon and demanded they reimburse me $1.60 for eight text messages,” Lightfoot said. “It wasn’t a lot of money, but it was my money.” American consumers are expected to receive an estimated 1.5 billion unsolicited text messages in 2008, according to Ferris Research, based in San Francisco, which tracks mobile messaging trends. That is nearly double what they received in 2006. Now some consumers, like Lightfoot, are monitoring their cellphones more aggressively for unwanted messages and, in some cases, demanding refunds. Computer security companies have developed products to help fight mobile spam. And phone companies and others are making it easier for customers to block unsolicited messages and keep spammers at bay. Most phone spam is actually e-mail that comes through gateways linking the internet and cellphone networks, industry executives said. And the inconvenience caused is not the only downside; there is also the threat of viruses as phones become more like personal computers. NYT NEWS SERVICE