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It all started with a Careless Whisper

Abe Olandres Editor-in-chief July 23, 2009 · 1 min read

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Effective today, July 23, 2009, the NTC Circular on Push Messaging by Content Providers will be imposed.

That means you should not get any spammy SMS asking you to download a ringtone or wallpaper, subscribe to some text or call promo, or join an SMS contest (however, if you are already subscribed, you will still get them alerts).

careless whisper

And all these started when Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile discovered his mobile phone was subscribed to a ringtone service and his prepaid cellphone load just vanished into thin air. And the ringtone he got — Careless Whisper. The rest, they say, is history.

A huge billion-peso industry was shaken up because of Hayden Kho. Now that’s what we can refer to as a real-life example of The Butterfly Effect. At least, all that Katrina Halili + Hayden Kho scandal did some good.

Read more about the amendments to the NTC Memorandum here.

React to this article:

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Abe Olandres

Editor-in-chief

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and is considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines.

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67 Comments

jong · 17 years ago

to unsubscribe to all spam messages, just type the keyword STOP and send to the access number.

example nagpadala sau ng spam ang 2366 or 4627 or 288 or 386 and the like

i think wala nang spam ngayon si smart and globe.

willard “Money Making ideas” · 17 years ago

Careless whisper? hahahaha!!

mhon · 17 years ago

@ Jong De Ramon

nakakaloko kasi ang mga Push Messages niyo.
Akala kasi ng iba porke nakalagay Free and habang buhay na Free un mga Ringtones at Wallpaper niyo.

Wag mo isisi sa mga subscriber.
Dapat nga may option after the service kung ieextend pa nila yung subscription or hindi.

Kaso ang lumalabas automatically extended at patuloy sa pagbawas ng load nila.
Kapag naman isstop na nila napakaraming prosesso at sa dami ubos na load nila bago pa man mastop yan..

@ Goosebumps

Ok naman ang nakapostpaid na Senador ah, atleast hindi niya ginagamit ang Pork Barrel niya para sa Postpaid – Corruption yon diba? Tama lang ginawa niya. Kita niyo na kahit si Sen. Enrile nabibiktima niyang Spam sms na yan. Akala din siguro niya free for life tapos nahirapan na siya s-unsubscribe services na nakuha niya. Eh pano na lang yung mga mahihirap umintindi? LOL

JohnLloy · 17 years ago

ahmm sana naman bigyan ng postpaid si senator

Boo · 17 years ago

Wahaha thanks a lot Sen. Enrile :p

jessie · 17 years ago

mga sipsip or just another bwaya

Nino Natividad · 17 years ago

…and never gonna dance again. How about Cha-cha?

Ninin
http://www.ninonatividad.com

Paul · 17 years ago

@Pink: I totally agree with you, sister. Also, there are still SMARTER businessmen who aren’t greedy and not just there to make a profit. So please don’t generalize. I don’t understand how and why people praise this certain Enrile for what he has done. Do not forget that this Enrile is monopolizing the matchstick (posporo) industry in our country. Now that explains why these illegal loggers are still there to destroy our environment and worsen our global warming. tsk tsk

When will Juan dela Cruz learn that these politicians simply give us a “moro-moro” show? Ooops. Am I generalizing or what? Ha-Ha. Im not including Ate Vi, though. Im a Vilmanian! Go Ate Vi! :) (And Im not even from Batangas. Ha-Ha)

To the Enrile fans, go ahead. Text REACT (space) YOUR MESSAGE and go to hell.

Pink · 17 years ago

@Jessie: If you got problems with businessmen then POOR YOU! You don’t even know what you’re talking about. So pathetic. If you don’t know how to make money then that’s YOUR problem. Don’t blame people who are obviously smarter than you are.

jessie · 17 years ago

you are just shaken…. less profit for a bigtime person like you… means a lot of headache…. what you can do is just cry like a baby.. gahamang mga businessman

Pink Note · 17 years ago

Careless Whisper can be related to a lot of “issue” here in the Philippines. Tatlo na silang maaalala ko sa kantang yan…=)

Calvin · 17 years ago

ngayon nakakainis naman yung mga nagsesend ng promotions pero galing sa valid numbers. ewan ko kung san nila nakuha yung number ko.

nirereport ba yung mga ganun?

Ton · 17 years ago

At long last! I wish they would have controlled what we had to hear, read and say earlier! Oh my goodness. Why only now?

If it weren’t for the subscribers who WILLFULLY subscribe to these “scams”, we wouldn’t have been liberated from choosing. Thank you very much for contracting intelligently.

Im also so glad that the NTC, an executive agency in charge of regulating the MANNER of communication, has now the power to censor content. They should do more with this new found power. Maybe outlaw online advertising?! It’s annoying, unsolicited, and it steals my bandwidth. Oh boy, I do hope so.

Vance · 17 years ago

at long last!

sherwin · 17 years ago

sa mga content provider, angal kayo ng angal, ang provision naman ng NTC circular na ito ay unwanted messages lang naman, kung gusto talaga ng mga tao mag subscribe sa inyo edi mag susubscribe sila asus. gusto kase ng mga content provider, easy money lang, legit man o illegal.

protection para sa mga consumers ang circular na ito, para di mapagsamantalahan ang ibang mga kababayan natin na hindi sing talino ng iba pag dating sa mga pagpipindutin sa cellphone nila pag may dumadating na kung ano sa messages nila.

BrianB · 17 years ago

I will be using prepaid now that this and an extension to load kits have been implemented.

Reuben · 17 years ago

Better late than never.

Andre Marcelo-Tanner · 17 years ago

because its only when they have a personal problem that they do something, if it doesnt concern them in any good or bad why they dont do a thing.

Carlo Dimaandal · 17 years ago

good – those spam messages will be gone

bad – why just now? do senators have to experience the problem themselves for them to act on it? I mean, this has been going on for years.

but kudos still, this is a win for the people.

Apple Design · 17 years ago

Why only now?

But, good job for Sen. Enrile for pushing this and making an action!

This will help the ordinary ‘tao’ of this nation. hehe

jong de ramon · 17 years ago

hi there.

i work for a local IT company and we are a content provider for SMART Communications. i feel sad about the news because there are a lot of legitimate and valid content that will be affected by these NTC Circular Memorandum. Ive read the NTC MC and i’ve noticed that this is implemented a long long time ago pa and this is a just a reminder for all content providers.

marami lang talagang CP na mapagsamantala. nakinabang na sila before, sana naman by this time, sumunod naman sila sa NTC kasi nadadamay ang ibang CP na mga compliants naman.

our service is legitimate and we know na magloload talaga ang sub for the purpose of using the value added service.

again, id like to reiterate na magbasa muna ng push message bago mag subscribe para di mabawasan ang load nyo.

ricojake · 17 years ago

maybe it’s apt to label it as “Careless Whisper Scandal”. It is really ironic that it needs only one man to shake a huge industry. The sad part is why we or they waited for so long..

Erin · 17 years ago

@goosebumps: if it makes sense to go prepaid, bakit hindi? hindi status symbol ang postpaid line. :)

Admittedly I am more interested in what will happen on the pulse-charging memo.

ciao!

Victor · 17 years ago

It’s about time content providers are disciplined. I dont care about katrina halili. I am a big fan of the maricar-hayden trilogy! Parang star wars lang! Hahah! LOL

Jhay · 17 years ago

It’s the second day of the new memorandum’s implementation and so far I’ve not heard of any complaints at home or from my friends.

a.cantos · 17 years ago

at last…

SmartGilas.com · 17 years ago

nice! =)

Lezuric · 17 years ago

(careless wishper tone)tenetententin tononot.. terentetenet terereretenet! ^^, I just did a pasaload today.. validity upto 3 days! yaysz! gooodie news as this spammy msgs..