The Wire Perspective

What the Do Not Disturb Register means to you

In December 2010 after so much frustration complaining with Telecom Operators over phone SPAM (Unsolicited Messages), I did post the message below on the I-Network Mailing list about a possible solution.

The email of concern I sent out in December 2010

This suggestion was based on the Australian experience where the Government actually has a law on this problem of unsolicited phone calls and messages. The Do Not Call Register Act 2006 outlaws telemarketing activities targeting phone subscribers listed in the Do Not Call Registry.

I am glad to note that the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) published a notice in the leading news papers today the 10^th of November 2014 on the Do Not Disturb (DnD) register requiring all Telecommunications service providers, Information and Content providers to implement an opt out method using 196.

What is a Do Not Call / Do Not Disturb registry? It is a registry that allows the phone user to opt out of telemarketing messages and calls addressed to your phone number.

Are you fed up of messages like this?

Typical Spam (Unsolicited) Message

Do you wonder where such messages keep coming from and how they get your numbers? Well, if you attend wedding meetings or fill in your number on the numerous lists that are compiled at the entry points of most Government buildings among others, then you can’t survive such consequences. Some content providers have made it a habit to maintain databases of numbers from their clients long after the services have been terminated and sold off that to other telemarketers.

How does the Do Not Disturb (DnD) Registry work?

A user that wants to stop receiving unwanted messages simply punches the code *196# and sends. The service provider then automatically gets that number registered onto the DnD registry. As simple as that. As a matter of fact, I have received messages from MTN and UTL in the past week telling me about this feature and I immediately activated my numbers. As I write, I have some sanity in my inbox.

Should we expect registration to stop all telemarketing calls?

I would say not exactly. While it might reduce these calls by close to 90%, you will still have calls coming through from some service providers who you subscribe to like your bankers, Insurance, pub, school among others. So when that stray message comes through, it is important to first establish your relationship with the sender before filing a complaint.

Currently, there are a number of rogue content providers out there who are treating the business like the Wild West and flaunt any available rules to carelessly send out telemarketing messages without shame. These definitely will continue with their habits but the onus will be upon us to work with the service providers to weed them out. There however is an association that brings together the professional sane thinking Content providers called Wireless Application Services Providers Association of Uganda and I encourage all of us consumers to use them as a point of contact when we have issues to do with unsolicited content. I once was being spammed by a member of this association and on raising the issue, their member promptly acted.

What hasn’t been made clear though is the process of delisting from this registry in case one would like to resume receiving those telemarketing messages and calls. UCC needs to come up with this too so that it doesn’t turn out to be the one way move that is appears to be currently.

UCC also doesn’t spell out the kind of reprisals the errant operators will face once they do not operationalise the directive and while it may still be a work in progress, as consumers we are eager to know the kind of punishments our tormenters are going to face.

One of the biggest losers are likely going to be the SMS vendors whose business plan rotates around sending mass messages for wedding meetings and various functions. They shall be expected to comply and judging by how many people are already fed up with such messages, the DnD registry will cut down on their revenues significantly.

The others are the johnny come lately sms jobs cheats, news vendors and love doctors who lure people into a subscription and then start charging them for receiving messages.

Well done UCC and we look forward to better times as consumers.

@wirejames

Museveni, this is how you can solve the Kagingo Problem

The fracas around the management of President Yoweri Museveni’s Social Media interactions has been with us for a while now with stories of infighting among some key staff. What is interesting to note is that the decision to take the President online was well received by the online community and within a short time, the number of followers on the President’s Twitter and Facebook accounts grew swiftly. As of October 29^th 2014, the @KagutaMuseveni official verified account has 66,258 followers while the Facebook page has 155,885 likes.

It is thus good to thank whoever had the dynamism in his team to see this social media push through. The fruits are starting to be seen. Unfortunately like is the case with many Ugandan Government related initiatives, whenever an initiative begins to shine, it attracts conflict. We have seen this happen before and are not about to stop. While some may be happy with the fact that the president is now able to relate with all citizens easily using online media, others are probably seeing it as a source of money and hence the genesis of the bickering. Unfortunately, the bickering eventually roped in my good friend Joseph Owino who in a bid to carry out patriotic services (bulungi bwa nsi) was construed as an evil brained hacker and had his movements restricted (arrested) for a while. His situation was the culmination of some unprofessional reporting by a local media house and the lack of comprehension of IT basics by someone that had been entrusted to manage the President’s Social Media image. Her choice to command the arrest of this young Ugandan technology talent reminded me of the ‘panda gari‘ days of Amin and Obote II regimes. Its a pity that she may be too young to realise that she is replaying history.

Mr. President, if I were you, I would take on this Social Media push as follows;

First, I come up with a Social Media Strategy in order to have a clear path on the way forward. When you simply dive into something without much aforethought, you are likely to get the kind of internal cannibalism that is being witnessed in your team. In our street linguo we call it jumping in fwaaa or okugwa mu kidiba. This strategy should allow you to identify the goals, set objectives, identify the target(s), know what the competition is like (opposition in this case), choose appropriate channels (do you opt for twitter and facebook only or even Google+, Instagram etc?), create a content strategy, allocation of budget and other resources (this will prevent the now standard Katosi like budgets that have become typical in Government) and finally assign roles (How many people do you need to run this initiative, what are their roles)

Secondly, I would get professionals (probaby from the private sector) to guide my team on designing the strategy and all this without having to spend obscene sums importing expatriates. I would support the Buy Uganda Build Uganda (BUBU) strategy and utilise the readily available local resources. I once heard of a training in open source software that was conducted by the Uganda Communications Commission where they imported trainers from Europe sidelining competent and proven local personnel. This should stop and I would ensure there is no repeat.

Finally, I would direct the National IT Authority of Uganda (NITA-U) to come up with guidelines on official use of Social media (in case they haven’t yet done it). These guidelines would then have to be followed by the Social media team at State House and adhered to.

At this juncture, there would be very little to be stressed about. Remember, while Ugandans may tolerate mediocrity the global audience that Social Media platforms expose you to isn’t usually that forgiving. Any small gaffe is likely to soil the already good image that you may have been built.

Adios

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