Online Security, a global provider of computer forensics and information technology risk mitigation since 1997   Original Source:    http://www.msnbc.com/news/993672.asp?0si=-&cp1=1 Wave of antispam laws targets SMS Author:  By Matt Moore Unwanted text messages a growing problem in Europe, Asia STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Nov. 14 — Early adopters of text messaging on cell phones are getting a taste of a new, annoying flavor of spam, though it hasn’t reached the same volume as inbox-clogging junk e-mail. Regulators and cell phone carriers want to keep it that way. New laws and regulations are specifically aimed at curtailing the tide of unwanted short message service (SMS) spam. THIS TREND IS especially evident in Europe and Asia, where the technology is more widely used than in the United States. Last month, the European Union enacted new digital privacy rules that require companies to obtain consent before they send e-mail and SMS text messages to mobile phones. Each of the EU’s 15 members and 10 countries joining in May will set their own penalties. Companies, particularly providers, are moving to make it easier to report abusers, said Paul Budde, an Australian telecommunications analyst who follows the issue worldwide. In Britain, Vodafone, one of the country’s biggest service providers, launched a trial service to allow its users to report when they get an unsolicited text message. If they get one, they can forward it, at no cost, to Vodafone. The company, in turn, will forward it to Britain’s Standards of Telephone Information Services. Other countries have already put into place mechanisms for fining abusers. In South Korea, for example, the Ministry of Information and Communications will fine spammers as much as $8,500 for SMS spam abuse. As it stands, advertisers in South Korea can send SMS ads, but they have to be labeled as such. Consumers can opt out, too. The SMS ads cannot be sent out between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m. The South Korean government has been enforcing the regulations since October, after they were established in mid-September. So far, no one has been fined.