Spam messages are still openly "littering"

After nearly 2 years of implementing Circular 04/2012-BTTT of the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) on the management of prepaid mobile subscribers, including the ban on the sale of pre-activated SIM cards, spam SIM cards and spam messages are still rampant.

Confused in handling

Recently, many subscribers of mobile networks have been annoyed because they receive many advertising messages and classified ads every day with all kinds of goods, especially invitations to buy houses and apartment projects in the context of the sluggish real estate market. The content of spam messages often originates from strange phone numbers. This phenomenon has been going on for a long time, causing authorities to have a "headache" in finding a solution.

Spam is rampant.

Previously, the head of the Ministry of Information and Communications also admitted: The problem of spam messages is very complicated. Many cases have impersonated VNPT and Viettel to commit fraud and the police have had to intervene to handle it. During the recent Tet holiday, authorities discovered 4,206,114 spam messages and mobile networks have blocked 11,250 subscribers for spreading spam messages; and handled 25 partner businesses for spreading spam messages. However, in reality, the number of spam messages is still very large, causing social outrage.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Hung, Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Information and Communications, state management agencies must come up with new forms to strictly manage this issue. Mr. Tran Manh Hung, General Director of the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), said: VNPT has directed MobiFone and the Interprovincial Telecommunications Company (VTN) to implement measures to block spam messages. Accordingly, MobiFone filters message content to identify the 1900 numbers of content service providers. "However, when detecting these content service providers sending spam messages, VNPT cannot fine them because the numbers are managed by another enterprise," Mr. Hung said. VNPT representatives have proposed that the Ministry of Information and Communications have a penalty mechanism such as deducting revenue from content service providers to deal with the rampant spam problem.

Regarding this issue, Mr. Pham Hong Hai, Director of the Department of Telecommunications (Ministry of Information and Communications) said: To handle businesses providing content that spreads spam messages, VNPT can review contracts with these businesses; at the same time, recommend the Inspectorate of the Ministry of Information and Communications and the Department of Telecommunications to handle it.

According to Mr. Le Quoc Cuong, Deputy Director of the Department of Information and Communications of Ho Chi Minh City, the source of spam messages can be attributed to three main sources: the mobile companies themselves (Telco), the content service providers via text messages and the third party partners (SubCP). In reality, the network operators are reported to spread flash advertising spam messages (images), the content service providers via text messages send service advertising messages, and the SubCPs advertise a wide range of content, even including superstition, incitement and pornography. The representative of the Department of Information and Communications of Ho Chi Minh City said: The only way to block the way for SubCPs is to tighten prepaid subscriptions.

Not only happening on traditional SMS, the problem of spam messages has also penetrated into free messaging and calling applications on the Internet (OTT) - where there are no regulations to manage this problem. In Vietnam, there are many OTT applications such as Viber, Zalo, LINE, KakaoTalk... with the number of up to tens of millions of users. Of which, Viber alone reached the milestone of 12 million users in March 2014, and the pure Vietnamese application, Zalo also has more than 10 million users.

Mr. Tran Vu Ha, Director of the Information Center of the Ministry of Information and Communications, said that the situation of OTT spam messages is becoming more and more complicated and the lack of management regulations and sanctions makes the problem even more serious. The Inspector of the Ministry of Information and Communications said that while the management agency focuses on spam messages via mobile networks, businesses and individuals who violate the law have proactively switched to OTT services, where messages are distributed for free and are not subject to any binding regulations or management from state agencies. According to telecommunications experts, most of the servers of foreign OTT applications such as Viber or LINE are located abroad and only a few have representative offices in Vietnam, so it is very difficult to manage. Therefore, the Inspector of the Ministry of Information and Communications believes that it is necessary to have advice from parties such as the Department of Telecommunications and the Vietnam Computer Emergency Response Center (VnCert) in finding a solution to the problem of spam messages via OTT.

Strengthening economic management

Faced with the need to strengthen inspection and control of authorized agents to register subscribers and whether they follow the correct procedures, the leader of the Department of Information and Communications of Ho Chi Minh City said: For provinces and cities with large areas like Ho Chi Minh City, it is impossible to mobilize inspection teams to inspect agents and businesses every day. "Should the Ministry consider managing prepaid subscribers like postpaid subscribers through signing contracts to bind them?", the representative of the Department of Information and Communications of Ho Chi Minh City suggested.

According to the Department of Telecommunications, the management of prepaid subscribers is most difficult at authorized agents for subscription registration. "These registration points have ignored regulations, causing the number of junk subscribers to continue to arise, and we don't know when they will stop," said the leader of the Department of Telecommunications. However, the Department of Telecommunications is also concerned: No country in the world manages prepaid subscribers like postpaid subscribers because this may affect international practices. Management agencies are also not allowed to be arbitrary in developing regulatory documents, because if the regulations are too strict, they risk limiting market development. While waiting for new policies from the Ministry of Information and Communications to impact the market, localities need to strengthen management and inspection in the area to limit agents and businesses from violating regulations.

According to Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Le Nam Thang, there are two ways to tighten prepaid subscribers, thereby managing virtual subscribers and junk SIMs. In addition to simple administrative measures such as increasing inspections of businesses and agents, it is necessary to apply economic measures, directly targeting the interests of related parties. For example, the regulation that SIMs cannot be pre-loaded with money in the account, which the Ministry has included in Circular 14.

The Inspector of the Ministry of Information and Communications proposed: It is necessary to separate the two accounts for calling, texting and entertainment - information on mobile phones. Accordingly, it is necessary to have regulations that the main account of a mobile phone can only be used to make regular calls and text messages. There will be a second account dedicated to using entertainment messaging services and the network operator, the Government must issue a separate card to top up this account. In which, money from account 2 can be transferred to account 1 but transactions in the opposite direction are not allowed. The Inspector of the Ministry of Information and Communications believes that, in addition to separating the two accounts for calling, texting and entertainment - information, the Ministry of Information and Communications also needs to soon take charge of issuing prefix numbers to end the current situation of prefix numbers that are unplanned, difficult to manage and are being circumvented by many governments. Governments that intentionally spread spam messages, scam messages or provide software with the feature of automatically deducting money from user accounts also need to be strictly handled.

According to news