New rules for mobile dongle.

[Anonymous]

My friend bought a mobile dongle for his internet. Like mine, it was automatically set to disallow adult content. I managed to have this restriction lifted in the shop but my friend is housebound. He has no credit card, only a debit card which they will not accept because "under 18's can own a debit card". He cannot get his restriction lifted which leaves him with only one option, throw the dongle out of the window and go to another network.

This is total BS!

1. People like my friend who is 65 and disabled cannot get out to do it at the shop.

2. Not everyone owns a credit card. Some, like me, don't like being in debt.

This is totally illegal believe it or not. Any censorship of internet sites without the express permission of the user is illegal when the content, though immoral, is still legal. The latest legislations made by government are not part of common law and therefore, have as much authority as a simple request so, if it is in response to government legislation, tell them to go **** themselves the same way as they've ****** this country up.

If you must place these restrictions, make it so that under 18's cannot buy the dongle and an adult must be present to buy it for them. The adult can then disallow the adult sites if they so wish, make sure the salesman is told to ask if it is for a person under 18 and/or if they want the adult content blocked.

In case O2 don't understand, if people have to jump through hoops to get what they want, they are going to go elsewhere.

[perksie]

All UK networks now have age verification, ask your friend to contact customer services who should be able to help.

This is not illegal.

You can read about it here:

http://news.o2.co.uk/2011/03/03/mobile-phones-and-age-verification-your-questions-answered/

I have passed this to the Community Manager to see if your friend can be verified another way.

[Liquid]

It's all set as opt out these days. A lot of people are still very techno-ignorant(it's a word!!:))

My over 18 content was locked again for some reason when I took out my upgrade contract. They let me unlock via the phone lines I only have a debit card.

[sheepdog]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

My friend bought a mobile dongle for his internet. Like mine, it was automatically set to disallow adult content. I managed to have this restriction lifted in the shop but my friend is housebound. He has no credit card, only a debit card which they will not accept because "under 18's can own a debit card". He cannot get his restriction lifted which leaves him with only one option, throw the dongle out of the window and go to another network.

This is total BS!

1. People like my friend who is 65 and disabled cannot get out to do it at the shop.

2. Not everyone owns a credit card. Some, like me, don't like being in debt.

This is totally illegal believe it or not. Any censorship of internet sites without the express permission of the user is illegal when the content, though immoral, is still legal. The latest legislations made by government are not part of common law and therefore, have as much authority as a simple request so, if it is in response to government legislation, tell them to go **** themselves the same way as they've ****** this country up.

If you must place these restrictions, make it so that under 18's cannot buy the dongle and an adult must be present to buy it for them. The adult can then disallow the adult sites if they so wish, make sure the salesman is told to ask if it is for a person under 18 and/or if they want the adult content blocked.

In case O2 don't understand, if people have to jump through hoops to get what they want, they are going to go elsewhere.

---

There's a lot of things being thrown around as facts and truths when its not. But that aside, as the mobile networks are private and the sim card you have is not even your own (its effectively leased to you, its in the T&C's), the networks can restrict what is being transmitted. Note the word transmitted - its not the actual content but the bandwidth they are concerned about which is why you see things specifically stated in the T&C's about usage.

The content thing is something a lot of concerned parties have been campaigning about and the networks are trying to avoid being blown up i.e. children under age viewing unsavoury things as we all know parents give their children contracts. 

Agree, its not ideal but in this day and age it is something us responsible people have to cope with. 

[Anonymous]

---

@Liquid wrote:
It's all set as opt out these days. A lot of people are still very techno-ignorant(it's a word!!:))

My over 18 content was locked again for some reason when I took out my upgrade contract. They let me unlock via the phone lines I only have a debit card.

---

My friend tried doing it over the phone and they refused. I even tried on his behalf and was told that the only way to do it was at the shop. I spoke to John Lawton, a contact at the O2 support line. I explained that he was disabled and housebound and couldn't get to the shop to do it but I was told there was nothing he could do because age could not be proved over the phone.

He also said that he would have to get a friend to go to the shop on his behalf. So let me get this straight, I could be a peadophile who's going to the shop to have restrictions lifted for someone who is underage for grooming purposes. How on earth does my going to the shop prove the age of the user? Anyone with half a brain could hear that we are both well over 18 simply from our voices and the fact that I could quote my SIA licence number, since I am a security guard, which he could verify there and then online at the SIA web site to prove my age, you have to be over 18 to get a SIA licence. I am actually coming up to 53 and my friend is 67 so, unless someone has ammended the laws of consent within the last few days, I do believe that neither of us are underage.

This really was the last straw for my friend, he is now going to throw out the dongle and get one from 3 Mobile instead so O2 have lost two customers over this because I will be doing the same with my dongle. I refuse to be treated like this. The restrictions on mine were lifted when I bought it but to be treated like this by O2 support is not something I am willing to put up with. I am a customer, I pay the bill and it is the wages of these support people I am paying for.

What actually makes it more annoying is that he could access the content up until 2 days ago and he's had the dongle for over 4 months now.

I will be making an official complaint about this as there should be more ways to verify age, especially with computers now being able to take pictures, scan documents like letters from the DWP showing pension and incapacity benefits etc to prove the users age. An email with the scanned image should allow someone who is unable to go to the shop to prove their age without a credit card. Neither of us use a credit card due to the ability to get into debt too easily with them and many people feel the same way about them, we should not be pressured into getting one just to prove our age to some bureaucrat who can't think outside of the box.

[Liquid]

I'm suprised they won't accept debit cards. I'm sure that when they credit check a customer age is taken into account. Or when you sign up to a service online via debit age verification comes from the bank.

I'm sorry to hear O2 are being backwards in this capability. However there are very easy ways to circumenvent these "locks" I know it's not ideal.

[MI5]

Another network that I use asks you to input your driving license number, online, why can't O2 impliment this ?