LET’S begin with an unasked question: Is network safety the responsibility of telecommunication service providers or a commercial offering to be paid for by the customers?
The overwhelming answer is that it is the responsibility of telcos. It is for this reason that experts and consumer groups have slammed telcos which charge customers, saying that network safety is a premium service.
With more than 99 per cent telco usage by Malaysians and scam losses amounting close to RM2 billion in just nine months of this year, telcos seem to eye business opportunities in scam protection.
Little wonder, experts and consumer groups are blasting the telcos for such basic services.
Associate Professor Dr Mohamad Yusof Darus of the Faculty of Computer Science and Mathematics at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) put it thus to Berita Harian on Tuesday: digital safety should not be turned into a paid product when it should be every customer’s fundamental right guaranteed by every telco.
As a matter of principle, it should be the moral responsibility of telcos, not one to be sold as a premium product to customers.
BH reported on Tuesday that some telcos are charging RM10 per month for providing their customers with digital safety services.
Federation of Malaysian Consumer Associations chief executive officer T. Saravanan echoed a similar view, saying that network safety protection is a basic right of consumers, not something that the telcos should see as a business opportunity to make money.
Network safety protection is a part of the cost of doing business that should be borne by telcos and it is a part of the trust they guarantee the consumers that their network is safe to be used.
He did not rule out charges being imposed on premium products, but they must truly be more than the basic network safety services.
Arik Zakri, a senior lawyer, concurs, pointing out network safety and security are obligations of service providers. Would a hotel be allowed to charge for providing food that is not contaminated, he asks.
It is time the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) threw the statute book at them.
Nothing less will make them change their errant ways. Like the technology titans in Silicon Valley, Malaysian telcos cherish a regulation-free environment so that they can manipulate the customers at will, charging them for this or that service.
The RM10 per month charge for protection against scams is one such levy.
Not that Malaysia doesn’t have laws. In addition to consumer protection laws, it has the Communications and Multimedia Act 1988 (CMA), drafted to primarily protect consumers. Under the CMA, too, new regulations can be passed where no such protection exists.
Even with such laws, resource-rich telcos are getting away with their errant ways because they know most Malaysians can’t afford to take them to court, even if they pool their resources in a representative action.
Only MCMC’s robust enforcement can protect telco service users.
© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd
