Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this matter, especially since I had to do a little toing and froing to find a home for this debate. It is often difficult to assign departmental responsibility to matters relating to children. While the Minister of State with responsibility for children is attached to the Department of Health and Children, matters affecting children cross over many Departments.

I refer to the problem of young people and children inadvertently agreeing to contracts for services with ringtone providers. I hope the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment can clarify what obligations rest with such service providers to ensure subscribers are aware of age restrictions. I received a complaint from a constituent whose son, aged ten, received a new Nokia polyphonic mobile phone for Christmas with €60 free credit. Like many young people, this boy was attracted by a glossy advertisement in a football magazine to the services of Jamster, a provider of ringtones, mobile phone wallpaper and games. The ten year old was able to join one of the Jamster clubs, thereby agreeing to a contract with the provider. This club entitles a subscriber to a number of new ringtones and wallpaper per month. The boy was not aware as he joined the club that he was agreeing to a contract. He was not asked his age nor did the company stipulate that a subscriber must be at least 16 years.

One can download the contract agreed by subscribers at www.jamster.ie. This outlines that a contract agreed with a person under 16 is void. This is the current statement of the legal position. However, the ringtone provider should also inform all potential subscribers that they must be at least 16 to agree to a contract. I joined the same Jamster club over the Internet and at no stage was I asked to confirm that I was over 16 or informed that I was agreeing to a contract.

Jamster is owned by the iLove company based in Berlin, Germany. The company provides different mobile phone accessory services aimed at different customers. Jamster is aimed at children and the latest pop songs are offered as ringtones, as well as the well known "Crazy Frog" ringtone. Jamster offers colour cartoon wallpaper and games and its services are marketed to children. Advertisements are placed in magazines heavily bought by children and teenagers. Jamster earns a great deal of its revenue from illegal contracts with children and young people who are completely unaware they have agreed to them.

The subscriber pays a fee on joining a Jamster club. This is €8 per month, for example, for the polyphonic ringtone club or the super games club. This allows the subscriber to one free ringtone and an entitlement to download further ringtones. However, a subscriber pays more than €8 to avail of the club. A sum of €1.65 is charged for every text alert received. This charge is levied when the subscriber uploads the GPRS connection on a text alert received. My constituent's son spent most of his €60 free credit on uploading such text alerts, which comprised new ringtones. A subscriber is sent text alerts on ordering a new ringtone and he or she can also receive unsolicited messages.

I contacted Jamster at the 1890 number provided but its representative was unwilling to provide clarification on its pricing structure. I was referred to the mobile phone provider, Vodafone, which I contacted, but it was unable to offer assistance. The corporate blurb on Jamster's website boasts of its ability to reap financial rewards from its customer base and of the free ringtone offer as a great teaser to derive response. It also boasts of what it calls high conversion and high payouts, listed as €2 for every sale.

I would be grateful if the Minister and relevant State agencies would look into the pricing structure of this service. This company is preying on the attraction of young people and children to their mobile phones, especially their ringtones, logos and games.

Jamster is aimed at young people. It induces young people to sign subscription contracts without letting them know that they must be 16 or that they are even signing a contract. The pricing policy is unclear, but from the information I have it appears to be exploitative. I urge the Minister to bring in guidelines to protect children and young people availing of the new mobile phone technology. It is often the case that parents are not aware of the cost of such contracts and downloads.

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