Safety measures to bar minors from playing text games
By LENIE LECTURA
TODAY Reporter
The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) on Thursday asked the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) to come up with safety measures that would ensure the nonparticipation of minors in text-based games.
NTC chief Ronald Solis said there should be safeguards in place before it allows text-based games, including promos, to be channeled through special access codes that the NTC will create.
“We had a preliminary meeting with PAGCOR. We asked them to provide us with safety measures before we allow them to have special access codes,” he said.
PAGCOR, which is mandated to centralize and integrate the right and authority to operate and conduct games of chance, has proposed to the NTC that prepaid card buyers should present valid identification cards upon purchase.
“The IDs are also needed before they can claim their prize. Their ID numbers would be registered via text, then have these validated upon claiming a prize,” Solis said.
Other safety measures include the registration of text-based games with PAGCOR before the carrier offers the value-added service to their subscribers.
Also, all promos sent through SMS must pass through the special access codes—888, 777, 878 and 787 to combat the so-called text scam.
The NTC will ask representatives from schools, churches and other sectors to participate in the public consultations that the commission will hold.
“I would seek a broader consultation. This is a sensitive issue. I would like to make sure that text-based games are not accessible to minors,” he said.
A public hearing will be scheduled in April.
Cellular firms will generate revenues from the proposed access codes that they are to provide. Such text messages cost from P2 to P2.50 each.
‘This will be of no cost to the telcos. In fact, they will be generating revenues from this,” Solis said.
The NTC had reported that victims of the so-called text scam victimized 487 persons in 2003.
In 2003 the NTC blocked 387 SIM cards used in the scam and another 102 SIM cards in the first three months of the year. The commission said it received 104 complaints against text scams in the first quarter.
The Antimoney Laundering Council, meanwhile, said that P5 million had been ripped off from these victims.
Also, the trade department said it received more than 100 queries about the validity of the “lotteries” using the text.
TODAY Reporter
The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) on Thursday asked the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) to come up with safety measures that would ensure the nonparticipation of minors in text-based games.
NTC chief Ronald Solis said there should be safeguards in place before it allows text-based games, including promos, to be channeled through special access codes that the NTC will create.
“We had a preliminary meeting with PAGCOR. We asked them to provide us with safety measures before we allow them to have special access codes,” he said.
PAGCOR, which is mandated to centralize and integrate the right and authority to operate and conduct games of chance, has proposed to the NTC that prepaid card buyers should present valid identification cards upon purchase.
“The IDs are also needed before they can claim their prize. Their ID numbers would be registered via text, then have these validated upon claiming a prize,” Solis said.
Other safety measures include the registration of text-based games with PAGCOR before the carrier offers the value-added service to their subscribers.
Also, all promos sent through SMS must pass through the special access codes—888, 777, 878 and 787 to combat the so-called text scam.
The NTC will ask representatives from schools, churches and other sectors to participate in the public consultations that the commission will hold.
“I would seek a broader consultation. This is a sensitive issue. I would like to make sure that text-based games are not accessible to minors,” he said.
A public hearing will be scheduled in April.
Cellular firms will generate revenues from the proposed access codes that they are to provide. Such text messages cost from P2 to P2.50 each.
‘This will be of no cost to the telcos. In fact, they will be generating revenues from this,” Solis said.
The NTC had reported that victims of the so-called text scam victimized 487 persons in 2003.
In 2003 the NTC blocked 387 SIM cards used in the scam and another 102 SIM cards in the first three months of the year. The commission said it received 104 complaints against text scams in the first quarter.
The Antimoney Laundering Council, meanwhile, said that P5 million had been ripped off from these victims.
Also, the trade department said it received more than 100 queries about the validity of the “lotteries” using the text.
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