To opt out....... when did I opt IN, Mr Operator?

Got this in from reader, Kevin:

Just thought I’d have a bit of a whinge myself. I’ve just received an SMS from Vodafone (apparently) telling me that I need to watch Sky One’s “The Big Idea” (www.thebigidea.tv if you’re interested). And perhaps I could submit a Big Idea myself and be in with the chance to win 10 grand. The end of the SMS was interesting as it read “Opt out – text ‘stop SMS’ to 9774”.

Now what I’d like to point out to Vodafone is – how the hell was I opted IN in the FIRST place?! The mobile I’m looking at is a works mobile. It doesn’t really get used very much aside from calls/texts to the family and, other than that, errrr… testing!

So why is it that (premium-rate issues aside) Vodafone and the governing body are the first to issue regulations on subscription services, who can do what, when, how, where and why, but when it comes to Vodafone themselves, they can just suddenly decide to have me opted in to some sodding “Sky One crap info” group?

Unless of course this turns out to be some non-Vodafone spam SMS. But hey – who cares? I hate Vodafone anyway… 😉

I have often wondered about this. I’m sure they’ve got themselves covered somehow — perhaps it’s classed as a ‘network information message’ or something. It’s a little bit wrong though, to send you something without first asking you if you’d like to receive it. This isn’t just a Vodafone thing. I’ve experienced it on all networks.