On The Rights Of Mobile Information Service Consumers And Its Protection

Due to its high-speed development, the incomes of Mobile Information Service (MIS) occupy an increasingly large share in the whole incomes of the operators of mobile telecommunications in recent years, and the SPs (stands for Service Providers) also play a more and more important role in the industry of MIS. However, the market develops irregularly in the beginning. Therefore, some SPs, in order to snatch short-term interests, infringe upon the rights and interests of consumers in the process of providing services. And the situation is worsened by the operators who, forming an alliance of interests with the SPs, always let drift the SPs` behaviors. At present, the special laws regulating MIS in our country is nearly blank. The department of information industry administration attaches great importance to the governing and regulating of MIS. However, because of the special relationship between the department and the operators, which is formed by historical reasons, the department makes itself incompetent in the supervision and management of MIS. Commonly, the sum of money claimed in MIS disputes is very small, while the cost of protecting rights would be higher than the probable compensations because of the present legal system. Therefore, when their rights are violated, most consumers would prefer being quiet rather than protecting rights actively.Currently, Chinese telecom market is gradually opened to foreign investors. The international telecom magnates would surely enter into the MIS market, while the traditional telecom services grow increasingly slowly. In order to promote harmonious and healthy development of the MIS market, and to enhance the international competitiveness of the whole industry, it is necessary to make laws form a higher level to regulate the operators` behavior. Thereby, the criterion for executing laws would be stipulated, and the consumers would be able to protect their rights under a more normative and transparent service standard. MIS has a characteristic of network economy, which decided that the market cannot regulate itself effectively. The government needs to strengthen the supervision and management of the market, and the supervision and management system should be improved for the purpose of consumer protection. Meanwhile, the present judicial and arbitral systems need to be improved to facilitate consumer protection. In order to increase the self-discipline level, to standardize the trade behavior, and to protect consumer rights better, the role of industrial associations should be given full play to.In view of the present situation of MIS in our country, this thesis analyzes the legal relationships among the parties engaged in MIS, and introduces the due rights of the MIS consumers. By analyzing the common manifestations and causes of the infringement upon the consumers` legal rights, and on the basis of digging our country's deficiency in legislation on consumer protection in MIS, this thesis brings forward some legislative proposals and other measures on improving the protection of rights and interests of MIS consumers. This thesis consists of four chapters, separately discussing on Survey of Our Country's MIS, The Rights of MIS Consumers, Study on the Common Manifestations and Causes of Infringement upon the MIS Consumers` Rights, and Proposals on Improving the Protection of Rights and Interests of MIS Consumers.Chapter 1 Survey of Our Country's Mobile Information ServiceThis chapter is divided into three sections. The first section covers the definition and characteristics of MIS, and the characteristics of consumption of MIS. MIS in this thesis merely refers to the information services provided to the consumers by the SPs via the operators` network, excluding the point-to-point transmission of personal messages between the consumers. MIS is a particular kind of commodity with its own characteristics. Besides, the characteristics of consumption of MIS also make the consumers'rights and interests easier to be violated. The second section analyzes the legal relationships among the parties engaged in MIS. The consumer achieves a contractual relationship with the SP by ordering a specific mobile information service. And this is the most central one among all the legal relationships in MIS. The third section introduces the survey of legislation on MIS and its existing deficiencies in our country. At present, the special legal documents regulating MIS include only one department rule and several policy documents issued by Ministry of Information Industry. These documents cannot provide consumers with adequate protection because of their low level in legislative hierarchy and lack of systematicness.Chapter 2 The Rights of MIS ConsumersThis chapter is divided into two sections. The first section gives a brief introduction to the origin and evolution of consumer protection. When the boundary between operators and consumers emerged and became increasingly apparent, and the contradiction intensified, the problem of consumer protection began to come into being. Thereby the concept of consumer rights was advanced. The second section analyzes the due rights of MIS consumers. Because of the characteristics of MIS, in addition to enjoying the various basic rights stipulated in the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of Consumers` Rights and Interests, the MIS consumers should also be granted special rights, such as the right to privacy and the right to reject messages.Chapter 3 Study on the Common Manifestations and Causes of Infringement upon the MIS Consumers` RightsThis chapter is divided into three sections. The first section introduces the present situation of MIS market. The prosperity of the market cannot conceal the fact of violation of consumer rights, and the severe measures of the regulatory authority cannot stop the operators` illegal behaviors. The second section reveals the common manifestations of the infringement upon consumer rights. By analyzing the operators` illegal behaviors, this section shows that the consumers` rights have been violated, such as the right to privacy, the right to know the truth, the right to choose independently, and the right to fair exchange. The third section gives a profound analysis of the causes of infringement upon consumer rights, such as urge of interests, lag of law, incompetence in supervision and management, and high cost of protecting rights.Chapter 4 Proposals on Improving the Protection of Rights and Interests of MIS Consumers This chapter is divided into three sections. The first section introduces the new trends of foreign telecommunications legislation, such as paying attention to consumer protection, enhancing the supervising ability of the regulatory authority, lowering the threshold of market access, attaching great importance to the supervision of the content of information on the internet, and lying emphasis on social supervision. These new trends have a great significance of reference for promoting our country's telecommunications legislation and better protecting the MIS consumer rights. Considering that the MIS market in our country is still irregular, and that the cases of violation of consumer rights frequently occur, the second section proposes to improve the protection of MIS consumer rights legislatively as soon as possible. This section also discusses the necessity of the improvement, analyzes its feasibility, and indicates several important points which should be noticed in legislation. The third section brings forward other measures to improve the protection of consumer rights. In the respect of administration, the government's supervision on the market should be enhanced. In the respect of judicature, a judicial system and an arbitral system which are more convenient for consumers to protect their rights should be constructed. And as far as trade self-discipline is concerned, we need to give full play to the role of industrial associations.In short, proceeding from realities of MIS market in our country and learning from the new trends of foreign telecommunications legislation, this thesis gives a comprehensive study on the improvement of protecting the MIS consumer rights from the respects of legislation, administration, judicature, and trade self-discipline.