A good comment by Hazlan Zakaria of The Ant Daily
Gerakan storming over ‘DAP spam’ but blind to BN’s junk SMS
QUICK TAKE: As it hit out at the Penang government’s SMS blast plan to directly communicate with Penangites, Gerakan Youth may have forgotten that the BN did the same thing during GE13.
The ruling party sent unsolicited SMS messages that have frustrated mobile phone users when they received a barrage of unwanted spam from BN candidates, then standing in their constituencies.
Indeed the Prime Minister’s Office itself had taken liberty with sending holiday wishes and other missives to the public using targeted SMS blasts, on the behalf and by all portends at the behest of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Given the above, it is hypocritical for a BN component to condemn the Penang SMS blast plan.
Gerakan Youth chief Tan Keng Liang tweeted that Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng may be unaware that the Personal Data Protection Act 2010 protects the privacy of mobile phone users.
Hashtagging the matter #DAPspam, Tan called for a stop to the plan.
Tan’s memory may need a little “reboot”, and his knowledge of the law refreshed, despite the fact that he is a lawyer by profession.
Anyone who bothers to check will see that Section 3 (1) of the Act says, “This Act shall not apply to the Federal Government and State Governments.”
As long as the data involved is not used for commercial purposes, there is no abuse. That was part of the argument justifying the BN’s and PMO’s use of the same facility.
Tan was criticising the Penang government’s agreement, reportedly inked with mobile operator XOX Bhd last week, to facilitate an SMS blast capability for the state authorities to communicate with Penangites.
The deal was apparently for the firm to facilitate up to 2.27 million text messages a year for the government, though reports indicate that the state would not be paying a dime as it is part of XOX’s corporate social responsibility programme.
An online portal reported Penang backbencher chief Wong Hon Wai as saying that the state would focus on disseminating useful and urgent information like natural disasters, utility disruptions and road closures, instead of festive greetings it sent previously.
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