Archive | September, 2008

3 signs up for new Consumer Code

By on 29 September 2008 in Telecommunications Act

The Communications Alliance has announced:  ‘Hutchison 3G Australia Pty Ltd (3 mobile) has become the first signatory to the new code designed to protect telecommunications consumers.’

They’re talking about the Telecommunications Consumer Protection Code, a consolidation of six previous codes that had become topsy-turvy.

3 has shown leadership by voluntarily signing up to the TCP Code.  But providers who don’t sign on the dotted line still can’t ignore it.

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Single price law proposed to Parliament

By on 29 September 2008 in advertising, Trade Practices Act

Last week, the Trade Practices Amendment (Clarity in Pricing) Bill 2008 was introduced to Federal Parliament.

If passed into law, the Bill will amend the Trade Practices Act 1974 to mandate advertising of a single buy price for certain goods and services.

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ACCC scores LSS win over Telstra

By on 23 September 2008 in Telstra, Trade Practices Act

The Federal Court has backed the ACCC’s processes for determining fair competitor access pricing for Telstra’s Line Sharing Service (‘LSS’).

After getting answers it didn’t like from the ACCC’s access dispute arbitration process, Telstra attacked the process itself.

ACCC Chairman Graeme Samuel said: ‘The ACCC has always taken a thorough, robust and transparent approach to disputes brought before it. These decisions have now been subjected to detailed scrutiny on multiple grounds of review, and the Federal Court has found that they have passed muster on all but one small point.’

It’s good news for CSPs that want access to the LSS.

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Complying with ACCC demands … on a budget

By on 19 September 2008 in General, Trade Practices Act

A trade practices compliance program is always a good idea.  It guards against infringements and helps to reduce penalties if something does go wrong.

It’s especially important if you use a call centre for telemarketing.  Rest assured … if you don’t arrange for compliance training, the agents won’t get any.

But when the ACCC demands that you undertake a compliance program, it’s not ‘if’ but ‘how many bucks will we blow on this ?’

Here’s a case study on how to deliver a course that can satisfy court orders, including agent training, without a massive price tag.

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CSPs fail simple compliance test

By on 10 September 2008 in How not to do it, Telecommunications Act

It’s surprising how many service providers trip up on basic compliance requirements.  We surveyed 36 Aussie CSPs against a simple benchmark.  21 of them failed.

The smaller the company, the more likely it was to get the requirement wrong.  But Adam Internet, Crazy John’s and Soul Mobile all got it wrong, too.

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TIO – Tricks of the trade: Part 2

By on 5 September 2008 in TIO

We learned how to approach and assess a TIO complaint in the first part of this series.

in this second part, we look at how to effectively respond to the TIO and achieve the best outcomes.

In the first part we determined who the complainant is and what the complaint is.   Now it’s time to respond to that TIO complaint.  The way you respond can have a significant impact upon the final outcome.

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Online trader Best Buy Australia gets trade practices law wrong

By on 4 September 2008 in How not to do it, Trade Practices Act

Best Buy Australia Pty Ltd caught our attention when it was fined by ACMA for spamming.  So we took a look at their T&Cs, just out of interest.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, they get the law seriously wrong when it comes to implied warranties and liability.

Here’s what BBA got wrong, and how to avoid the same mistake.

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ACMA pings another spammer

By on 4 September 2008 in General

ACMA has fined Best Buy Australia $4,400 for breaches of the Spam Act 2003.

The penalty is modest compared to the $1m plus maximums that apply to repeat offenders, but makes it clear that ACMA won’t overlook a spam breach just because it doesn’t involve large numbers.

BBA really asked for trouble by not actioning people’s requests to be dropped off its mailing list.

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Targeted advertising: privacy debate heats up

By on 3 September 2008 in Privacy, Telecommunications Act

Under the headline ‘Doubts rise over ISP ad targeting’, theage.com.au has reported a major groundswell of resistance to new technologies from companies like NebuAd, Phorm and Front Porch.

The systems offer ISPs ‘free money’ for facilitating targeted advertising using analysis of their IP stream.  According to the article, privacy concerns have sparked a backlash that is scaring US broadband providers away from the new revenue opportunity.

In Australia, CSP Central thinks the position is even starker for ISPs.  In certain situations, operation of the systems will be a criminal offence.

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It’s time professionals were IT-literate

By on 2 September 2008 in General

If you hired an accountant who couldn’t count or a lawyer who couldn’t read or write, you’d want your money back.  Reading, writing and ‘rithmetic have long been core business competencies.  It’s time to consider what competency means in a techno world.

We were recently involved in a case where eight or ten highly paid lawyers needed access to a common set of documents.  It soon became apparent that any solution that demanded even modest computer skills would not fly.  Apparently efficiency and $750 per hour price tags are incompatible.

It set us to wondering about what constitutes core skills these days.  Here are some of the things we count as basic in the late two-thousand-and-nothings, courtesy of my weekly Hands On column.  Not everybody in the IT industry would pass our tests, either.

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