Mike Arrington is on a tear with some great posts exposing the dark underbelly of advertising on social networks.
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Hi, I'm Toni Schneider. I blog about my life in San Francisco and Silicon Valley.
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Mike Arrington is on a tear with some gr…
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I think phone companies should take some responsibility for the mobile scams. I consider myself a savvy tech user and I noticed one of the 10/mo charges on my cell phone bill a few months ago, who knows how long it was on there. My Mom has one too we’re removing. I think there’s a similar “ecosystem hell” with mobile providers who take a huge chunk of those charges and the scammy companies underneath.
OfferPal’s refutation includes such dissembling gems as:
“Why one tech blogger feels this problem is unique to the virtual goods industry or somehow a reflection on the payment providers who power it is entirely unclear.” (http://myofferpal.wordpress.com/2009/10/31/virtual-goods-summit-09-what-an-ending/)
Unique or not, vectors like Facebook combine scale with a uniquely vulnerable demographic. Clearly there’s a point in the value chain at which oversight needs to be applied. Matt, I question whether that’s the role of cell providers any more than it would be bank’s role to police the use of cash dispensed from one of their ATM’s.
Thanks for the excellent link. Mike’s analysis is spot on. The video posted on his blog should be a warning to investors and consumers alike to stay away from that sCamEO. I’m with Mike. Oversight and responsibility need to be applied over the whole food chain. Phone companies could be part of the solution and enable charge backs like credit cards already do. If an offer is unclear the consumer should have a right to withdraw and have all of their money refunded. That’s probably in the realm of the FCC? in the meantime it’s caveat emptor.
That’s a pretty good point, an equivalent of a chargeback could help the ecosystem a lot.