CONSUMER PROTECTION: WHERE DO WE DRAW THE LINE

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CONSUMER PROTECTION WHERE DO WE DRAW THE LINE?

• PRESENTED BY THE
• NATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION,
• PHILIPPINES

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What is consumer protection?

• Consumer protection involves a set of laws,
  regulations and practices that protect consumers
  against fraud, help ensure the respect of a
  nations economic interests, and educate them
  about their rights, risks and responsibilities
  when they engage in a variety of transactions.

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Laws dealing with consumer protection

• Law on contract and tort
• Specific statutes on consumer protection (in the
  Philippines-Consumer Act)
  
• When these laws were enacted, on-line trade was
  either non-existent or in its infancy stage

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Consumer Issues Affecting Telecom Users

• Pre-Internet
• prior to the Internet, telecom consumer
  issues generally are those that involved fraud
  and deception
  
• examples of fraud and deception
• -billing (erroneous, late)
• -fake/counterfeit products
• -false and misleading advertising
• -illegal text messages/cellphone theft

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Consumer Issues Affecting Telecom Users (contd)

• Internet Age
• The growth of online business brought in
  special and complicated consumer issues to
  Internet users.
  
• Aside from fraud and deception, which are
  the usual threat or uncertainty that consumers
  face, there are concerns involving privacy and
  security as well as problems involving
  jurisdiction and enforcement.

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Special Consumer Concerns on the Internet

• Fraud and Deception
• copycat websites or the impersonation of
  another business by copying or mimicking the
  style of the website of another business
  
• selling of counterfeit products
• mass personalization or the use of targeted
  or apparently personalized messages such as an
  email to a named individual which may lead the
  consumer to believe that he or she has been
  selected specially for an offer or will be
  offered a special, personalized deal

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Special Consumer Concerns on the Internet
(contd.)

• Content issues
• pornography
• gambling
• cruel or violent material (e.g. torture,
  violence, degradation of humans, child abuse)
  
• issues of national security (terrorist
  activities)
  
• In democratic societies, Internet censorship is
  the most contentious and well-publicized issue
  because in a broader aspect, content regulation
  is the legal or political control of speech or
  expression.

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Special Consumer Concerns on the Internet
(contd.)

• Privacy and security
• privacy is an issue affecting telecom users
  because of growing capacity of information
  technology to collect and distribute personal
  information
• identity theft ( unauthorized parties may
  have access to personal information)

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Special Consumer Concerns on the Internet
(contd.)

• data mining ( each time an individual uses
  a credit card, rents a video or makes a telephone
  call, a record is entered into a computer
  barcode scanners can record
• detailed information about a consumers
  habits)
  
• data matching ( by cross-matching data from
  several sources it is possible to create a
  detailed portrait of an individuals lifestyle,
  tastes, political views and health)

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Special Consumer Concerns on the Internet
(contd.)

• Jurisdiction and Enforcement
• because of the border-less nature of the
  Internet, questions of jurisdiction, choice of
  law and effective enforcement arise
  
• trans-border disputes arising from on-line
  purchases are likely to involve small values and
  consumers have to face high litigation and travel
  costs in settling disputes
• a nation may introduce a law regulating
  online behavior but may find it difficult to
  enforce that law

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Addressing the Issues Philippine Context

• Billing issues
• Billing Circular mandating that billing
  should be on time uninterrupted services for
  contested billings
  
• Fake products/False and misleading advertising
• addressed by the Consumer Act and under
  the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Fair Trade and
  Consumer Protection
  
• Intellectual Property Office (IPO)

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Addressing the Issues Philippine Context
(contd)

• Illegal Texting/Cell Phone Theft
• bombardment of warning messages/ blocking
  of IMEI
  
• creation of One Stop Public Assistance
  Center (OSPAC), which not only receives and acts
  on complaints but educates complainants/consumers
  to read fine print provisions
• active coordination with other government
  agencies, specifically with Bureau of Fair Trade
  and Consumer Protection and Intellectual Property
  Office

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Consumer Issues on the Internet how is it
addressed

• Current legal regime in the Philippines also
  applies to digital environment (but like most
  governments, Philippines is aware of the special
  problems posed by the Internet)
• Proposal to create a new department to handle ICT
  more efficiently and effectively ( to be called
  Department of Information and Communications
  Technology)
• Establishment of ITECC (Information Technology
  and E-Commerce Council)

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What is ITECC?

• Composed of public/private sector
• Chaired by the President of the Philippines
• Established to promote IT and e-commerce
• conducts consultative meetings and drafts
  bills for endorsement to Congress
  
• currently undertaking a study on how to
  protect privacy and security over the Internet

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Nagging Questions/Issues

• Government regulation or Self-regulation?
• The idea of self-regulation involves the
  voluntary compliance on the part of companies
  within an industry to develop standards at the
  industry level.
• On the other hand, many consumers feel that
  without legal guarantees, the efforts of
  self-regulation are not enough as they lack
  enforcement mechanism and do not provide the
  level of guarantee that is expected in commercial
  transactions.

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Nagging Questions/Issues (contd)

• Should governments therefore pass laws to back up
  self-regulatory initiatives by the private sector
  or should they regulate the protection of on-line
  consumer specifically?
• Striking a Balance
• How is it possible to ensure a balance
  between consumer protection and safeguarding
  constitutional rights of freedom of speech and
  expression?

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Nagging Questions/Issues (contd)

• How do we create an environment where the
  rights of citizens are protected while avoiding
  unnecessary restrictions on trans-border flow of
  personal data that could inhibit the potential
  growth in e-commerce?

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Approaching the Problem

• a light handed regulatory approach (history
  showed that too much regulation was not good for
  the industry)
  
• strong government leadership, particularly in
  encouraging use of ecommerce technologies in
  dealing with government
  
• consumer education by increasing public awareness
  by educating them of their rights, risks and
  responsibilities

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Approaching the Problem (contd.)

• Strategies for content regulation may involve the
  use of technological measures such as blocking or
  filtering software
  
• a law for cyberspace? (in order to overcome the
  practical difficulties that the Internet
  prescribes, Johnson and Post propose a law for
  cyberspace which regulates all Internet based
  transactions regardless of where their real life
  participants reside, where their server is
  located or what their domain name is)

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Point to Ponder

• In drawing the line, it is important to remember
  that
  
• Government is a service industry, and the
  public is our customer (US FCC Commissioner
  Abernathy).

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End of Presentation

• Thank you.