90% of UK ringtone-selling web sites might be "misleading" and ripping off the kids
An investigation by the European commission has found that pretty much all of the awful ringtone-flogging web sites out there are misleading, confusing and mask the true cost of their tacky subscription schemes.
This is not news to us educated, technology-aware lot, but for small children not yet used to the cynical ways of the adult world who are signing up to everything they see advertised on TV – it’s a license to take their money.
500 sites across Europe were monitored, with 80% of them believed to be breaking consumer law in some way. In the UK, the figure reaches a shameful 90%. Site use tactics like tricking people into signing up for subscriptions when they think they’re just paying to download one thing, and giving them one “FREE!” thing in return for a mentioned-in-passing £1.50 a day.
Anyone who’s ever read the small-print on a ring tone TV advert on ITV2 at 2.45am won’t be particularly surprised by this. Plus, people who pay for ringtones generally deserve all the abuse they get, to be honest.
(Via The Times)
Related posts: Ring tones “on the way out” 🙂 | “Wyclef talks ring tones”
