Opt-out list reaches 270,000

TrustFabric’s national opt-out list which was launched last year has grown to over 270 000 users.

TrustFabric’s national opt-out list has grown to more than 270,000 users. The list was launched in 2011 and is South Africa’s first independently run direct marketing opt-out list. The Consumer Protection Act (CPA) gives South Africans the right to block direct marketing by adding their contact details to an Opt-out list, but an official National Opt-out list is yet to be appointed. The TrustFabric service is free for all citizens and was developed without any costs to government. Should the TrustFabric list become the official national opt-out list, direct marketing companies will be legally forced to check if a number is on the list before they are allowed to phone or SMS citizens. “Most people are frustrated with rising levels of spam. Especially unwanted phone calls and SMS messages which are very intrusive and a big waste of productive time. It’s sad that the National Consumer Commission (NCC) has not made any progress in helping citizens enforce their right to privacy. We hope the DTI and the NCC will give serious attention to this matter as soon as new leadership takes over at the NCC in September,”” says Joe Botha, CEO of TrustFabric. TrustFabric also operates a Child Protect service which offers marketing companies a way to avoid sending adult content like alcohol and tobacco marketing to minors. This service works in a similar way to the opt-out service, but simply checks if a mobile number belongs to a user over 18 years old. “”Ethical marketing companies which want to respect people’s right to privacy and want to exclude minors from their marketing can filter out about 4 million numbers using the current TrustFabric database,”” says Botha. People can join the TrustFabric Opt-out service by using the TrustFabric website: https://www.trustfabric.com/

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