Senator Joel Villanueva proposed law against spam texts or calls.
JOEL VILLANUEVA — The senator has filed a bill that would automatically “opt-out” all subscribers from receiving spam texts or calls.
Villanueva, who was the chairman of the Senate labor committee, filed Senate Bill No. 2460 or the proposed “Anti-Spam Act of 2021”, which sought to address “smishing” (SMS phishing) — a scheme that lured unwitting jobseekers and consumers into giving away personal information using links and other related means.
“This scheme will undoubtedly mislead some recipients, thereby necessitating the need for the government to take affirmative action to address these types of spam messages,” the senator wrote in the explanatory note of the bill, which was filed last Wednesday.
Under the said bill, all mobile and telephone subscribers were automatically opted out of spam texts or calls.
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The said bill required a subscriber’s prior and explicit consent before receiving promotional or commercial advertisements.
“Commercial or promotional advertisements may only be sent to a subscriber who has given prior consent or has specifically opted-in to receive said messages without additional cost,” the bill stated.
According to the bill, if a subscriber had given consent to receive advertisements, concerned entities were still required to provide a mechanism for subscribers in order to “opt-out any time”.
If enacted into law, the said bill also mandated the continuous monitoring and oversight of concerned government agencies to further improve and develop the technical and industry efforts in order to protect the data privacy of citizens.
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