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News Release 5th July 2004FABRICANT: GOVERNMENT MUST ACT NOW TO END PHONE LINES RIP-OFFThe Shadow Minister for Technology, Michael Fabricant, has called on the Government to intervene urgently to curb abuses by some premium rate telephone operators. Mr Fabricant commented: "With 2,000 complaints being logged daily, and 19,000 cases of abuse currently under investigation, Ofcom must intervene urgently and the Government must use its powers under the Computer Misuse Act. "Some of these complaints arise from a bug which activates computers at night unknown to the owner. The computer then calls up premium rate numbers with beneficiaries in places like Moldova and the British Virgin Islands. The first the phone customer knows about this happening is when he or she receives the phone bill. BT and other telephone companies must be empowered to withhold payment to such companies or else this problem will escalate. "ICSTIS (the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services) has its hotline jammed and complainants cannot get through. When they do, the investigation can last longer than six months. "The Government cannot stand idly by. It must use its existing powers to regulate the market. The alternative is to have to pull the plug on the internet or to stop the 09 premium number services. Both options are just not possible." |
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