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European triple hurdle
 After an uncomfortable time in China already this year, Google is now experiencing difficulties in Europe. Two employees, and one ex-staffer have been convicted of breaching Italian privacy regulations in a case involving cyber-bullying back in 2006. Footage was posted to Google Video of a child being mistreated by schoolmates. The video was taken down after a request from the authorities, but the prosecutor continued with the case and convictions have led to suspended sentences. It’s a pretty stark warning to all social networking and media sharing sites, that potentially they are legally responsible for every bit of content posted by anyone.
Google has also been notified by the European Commission about complaints from three companies regarding the fairness of its search engine results. UK price comparison site Foundem, French legal search engine eJustice.fr and Microsoft’s Ciao from Bing, all accuse Google’s search algorithm technology of being unfairly weighted. It remains to be seen if an antitrust case will be formally investigated.
Associated Press also report that the company has been asked to better notify residents before its Street View camera vehicles start to collect pictures. Not sirens or alarms on the vans, just notification posted on the web, and in local papers before the event. The data protection authorities in Finland, Germany, Greece and the UK have already asked the company to make changes such as lowering the camera angle so that the images don’t show private gardens.
UK regulator shows complaints stable at virtually zero
Some extremely heartening news for me that I wanted to share with you. A large part of my career has been spent dealing with, and training others to deal with complaint escalations. A very satisfying role, but there have been few situations over the years when I’ve thought the industry was making a rod for its own back. The phrase ‘cashback deal’ is definitely one that led me to thinking, ‘here we go again’.
Cashback deals are promotions often used by third-party dealers and retailers. Independent of the mobile network chosen, an arrangement is made between the customer and retailer agreeing that after a certain time period, if the bills have been paid correctly, the customer can claim back a large portion of their line rental charges as ‘cashback’.
This type of offer often appeared at the top of internet value league tables, because the total cost of the package seemed to be much lower than other deals. And if the cashback deals were administered fairly, all would have been well.
The problems often, and I do mean often, arose when customers tried to claim the money back. You can see from the table at the start of 2008 Ofcom were dealing with 500 complaints about this a month, the tip of the iceberg because most complaints would be made directly to the mobile networks, or more correctly to the retailers involved. To qualify, customer would have to prove they’d paid bills, but documents would mysteriously disappear in the post, even if sent by recorded delivery. Customers could find out they missed previously unexplained qualifying dates, bizarre vouchers might need to be exchanged, or retailers could even cease trading. Let’s just summarise by saying there were a number of unusual barriers involved in getting a claim approved.
It’s fantastic for me to see this problem seems to be virtually extinguished. Ofcom has no formal powers to regulate high-street retailers or off-shore cold calling, but the combination of a crack-down by the mobile networks on the behaviour of their retailers, action by consumer groups and increased customers awareness seems to have eliminated the cowboys. Cashback deals still exist, but consumers can buy with a much higher degree of confidence, as the table shows.
Complaints still happen, but I’m genuinely delighted to see the level around cashback so low. There’s still work to be done on mis-selling and slamming, but the trend is also down. Mis-selling is a broad category, usually occurring where a consumer alleges they’ve been told a service is free or inclusive at the point of sale, only to find out it carries a charge or just isn’t available. Slamming is the illegal switching of a subscriber’s phone (or other utility) service to another provider without their consent.
Phones snatched by organised gangs
 The UK’s top police force caution concert-goers that the risk of phone theft after filming a favourite band is vastly increased. Criminal gangs are believed to be targeting gigs and stealing high-end mobiles to order. Victims often assume it’s a casual loss, so the real extent of the problem may not be fully realised.
The Metropolitan Police based National Mobile Phone Crime Unit is working with concert venues and local police in London and other parts of the country to combat the crime and raise public awareness. "A lot of people like to use their mobile phones to film or take photographs of the concert, but will then return the phone to an insecure bag or pocket, where thieves are able to snatch it”, warns NMPC head, Detective Superintendent Nev Nolan.
All mobile carriers promote entertainment events, and nobody wants to spoil the experience or cause unnecessary worry. But a gentle caution to have fun while staying phone safe would be well placed.
Like to know more? press release here
The most important part of your phone?
Largely unconsidered these days, the antenna is really the key technology in a mobile phone, or anything labelled as wireless. Without it no customer can get a signal. Bigger is better, but in the ongoing battle to cram more gadgetry into smaller phone cases, it’s often the antenna size that takes a hit.
Old-style mobiles made it easy, people could see the stubby antenna poking up. But styling and fashion now demand most antenna are internal and hidden. A broad rule of thumb is that small feature-heavy phones will have compromised on antenna size. In an area of marginal coverage, it’s probably better to recommend a functional business-orientated model, like the Nokia E series, or a trusty workhorse like the mid range Sony Ericsson W and T models.
The second thing that determines whether consumers get a good signal is distance from the nearest cell site or mast. Network design and build is a bit of a black art. Engineers and planners have to juggle where to put transmitters based on available land, interference from other masts, power consumption, public concerns, return on investment, plus and a host of other business drivers. When you then factor in the environment, the shape of the landscape, building materials, vegetation and the weather, it’s no easy task.
Mobile Science 101
The networks also broadcast at different frequencies. 2G signals travel at 900MHz for Vodaphone and O2 and 1800MHz for T-Mobile and Orange. 3 doesn’t have it’s own 2G network, so mainly piggy-backs on Orange where they have no 3G. All 3G signals broadcast at the 2100MHz range.
As the diagram shows, the higher the frequency, the shorter the wavelength. Longer waves travel further and take less power to transmit, meaning you don’t need to have so many masts to cover a wide area. But shorter waves bounce around more, reaching into dips and valleys and providing better coverage across a smaller area.
Pretty much everyone in the UK offers the same % of coverage. There have always been not-spots, and there always will be. Femtocells offer an innovative solution, allowing customers to fit their own mini transmitter where they need coverage, the signal is then piped back over local broadband.
Any competitive edge can drive sales. Antenna strength isn’t glamorous but it’s vital.
Millions of invalid phones blocked
 In a nation still shocked by the 2006 Mumbai train bombings, and the ten coordinated terror attacks of November 2008, the Indian government ordered mobiles with no International Mobile Equipment Identifier (IMEI) blocked on midnight Monday.
Indian intelligence and anti-terror forces say that phones without the code are used in attacks by militant groups. The blocking move follows the Spanish government’s decision to insist that prepay mobiles must be registered against a certified proof of identity.
Phones with no IMEI flood Indian and South-East Asian markets, made locally or imported from China. They have the obvious attraction of being cheaper for many people living in poverty, with no formal documents to prove identity.
Most owners of the blocked phones will feel wrongly penalised, having no awareness the IMEI codes were required.
Like to know more? BBC story here
Another one bites the dust?
A second Sony Ericsson smartphone is causing the wrong kind of publicity in the UK, Reuters report this evening. Part of SE’s Christmas line-up, the Aino is causing users problems with its touchscreen interface.
These are by no means the only phones ever to be released with glitches and bugs, but serious issues affecting two premier phones at the same time as the ad campaigns hit TV and cinema screens? Come on. A spokesman for the company has stated "At the moment, we don’t see any damage or harm done”. Pull the other one, and get these things fixed.
Success in the smartphone market is a key element in Chief Executive Bert Nordberg’s plan for returning the firm to profit next year. Knock some heads together Bert.
Like to know more? Reuters report here
All I don’t want for Christmas
 Carphone Warehouse and Phones 4U stores have suspend all sales of the Sony Ericsson Satio, in response to critically high customer returns and complains. Both chains will offer alternative phones to unhappy customers, living up to their responsibilities under the Sale of Goods Act. Goods must be fit for purpose and it is the seller, not the manufacturer who has to sort it out.
Sony Ericsson’s senior marketing manager Richard Dorman has confirmed the bug and announced SE hope to have a fix available by Christmas. Verity Burns, a technology journalist with gadget magazine Stuff was quoted by the BBC as thinking the problem lies with how the Sony Ericsson user interface interacts with the Symbian operating system on the phone. "The phone seems to be turning itself off when people access certain applications but not everyone will be affected. Vodafone and Orange run their own interfaces and don’t seem to have the issue."
Like to know more? BBC report here
“Jail broken” iPhones at risk from Duh!
 As unwelcome as a virus, the Duh Worm can take control of iPhones made vulnerable by their users, Reuters report. Hackers have engineered a virus that can take advantage of iPhones have been unofficially disconnected from Apple’s distribution control mechanism, the App Store. The process is called jailbreaking and originated as a means to get free ringtones.
Nanny Apple will only allow iPhone use on its partner service providers and customers can choose only official applications, vetted through the App Store. This policy decision riles many and has driven some developers to favour less rules-heavy platforms, like BlackBerry and Symbian. Some even release applications to unlicensed rival stores, like Cydia. Thousands of unauthorised apps, including Wi-Fi access, VoiP applications and porn continue to drive this grey market.
The worm is being investigated after Dutch bank ING discovered a criminal network attempting to steal banking credentials via hacked iPhones. ING confirmed it had no reports of illegal transactions, but it was monitoring customer accounts closely. Last month a similar worm took advantage of users who didn’t change passwords from the default option.
This is a scare story, a cautionary tale affecting only a handful of users. However a bit of flexibility from Apple, a softening of its App Store approval policy and the introduction of parental controls for those that want them would go a long way to bring everyone closer to an ideal and free market.
Like to know more? Reuters report
No longer Bullybo?
 Youth social networking site Bebo act to deal with cyberbullying, by adding the CEOP button to its pages. Jim Gamble, the chief executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre praised Bebo on the BBC breakfast news this morning, and called for CEOP links to become standard across the social networking arena.
As virtually every phone deal you can find is branded with access to all the social networking sites, child protection and cyberbullying are of prime concern to parents considering mobiles as Christmas presents.
 The button provides access to specially trained CEOP officers, local police information and a number of other sources of support, including Childline. Bebo told the BBC it was "committed to providing its community with the safest possible environment". On Monday Beatbullying launched Anti-Bullying Week and raised concern that Bebo is known as ‘Bullybo’ amongst many young people. Hopefully that can now begin to change.
Justice Minister considers custodial sentences for data crime
T-Mobile staff have passed the contract details of thousands of their customers to third-parties. The office of the information commissioner is preparing a prosecution. Reported by the BBC tonight, this story will explode across the blogosphere in the morning.
After 02, Vodafone, Orange, 3 and Virgin all said it wasn’t them, T-Mobile stepped up to confirm it was the source of the problem. It’s implied, but not confirmed that internal staff are at fault rather than outsourcers. A T-Mobile spokesman stated the data had been sold “without our knowledge”.
If prosecuted those involved could face fines that would cripple an individual but would be paltry to an organisation the size of T-Mobile. Justice Minister Michael Wills told the BBC that there was a “strong case” for introducing custodial sentences to prevent the trade in illegal data.
Like to know more? BBC story here
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After an uncomfortable time in China already this year, Google is now experiencing difficulties in Europe. Two employees, and one ex-staffer have been convicted of breaching Italian privacy regulations in a case involving cyber-bullying back in 2006. Footage was posted to Google Video of a child being mistreated by schoolmates. The video was taken down after a request from the authorities, but the prosecutor continued with the case and convictions have led to suspended sentences. It’s a pretty stark warning to all social networking and media sharing sites, that potentially they are legally responsible for every bit of content posted by anyone.
