ON THE SPINE OF A BOOK JN A SCHOOL LIBRARY; 'SLAUGHTER LIVING THINGS'. THAT'S A GCSE TEXTBOOK LIVING THINGS V. SLAUGHTER

摘要

Reverse-charge text messaging is the latest big thing. It began in Britain and will soon roll out across the rest of Europe, which uses the same cellphone system. Whereas text messages normally cost nothing to receive, reverse messaging lets cellphone owners pay about 25p a time to receive business or sports news, for example. But some people now complain that they are getting messages they do not want and cannot stop, and which cost up to ￡1 each to read. Feedback asked Vodafone, the cellphone giant that introduced the reverse-billing system, the key question: can these messages be billed on arrival without the owner's permission? Vodafone's first answer ("Customers should be wary....") ducked the question. So we asked again.