Australia SMS Sender ID Registration

ACMA's new regulation effective July 1 requiring SMS sender IDs to be registered, with unregistered senders marked as 'Unverified'. Discussion of whether messages should be blocked entirely rather than just labeled.

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While many Australians welcome the new ACMA regulation as a long-overdue weapon against rampant SMS fraud, some argue that merely labeling unregistered senders as "Unverified" is insufficient and advocate for blocking those messages entirely. Discussion highlights a desire for even deeper reforms, such as mandating the ability to reply "STOP" to branded messages that currently prevent easy opt-outs. Despite some skepticism regarding the government's motives, industry insiders clarify that the move is part of a necessary global trend to verify message origins and restore public trust in digital communication.

13 comments tagged with this topic

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I rely on the ability to set the outbound caller ID but I would happily register it if required.
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As an Australian, I'm happy to hear this, but also annoyed that a lot of legitimate SMS from companies don't use branded sender ID. I'm not sure why, but my guess is that SMS gateways charge more for it and businesses don't want to pay the extra cent or two.
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That will likely change after this goes into effect, otherwise all that legitimate spam will never make it.
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As counter measure to text scams the Australian government (actually ACMA which I think is the Au version of the FCC) has introduced a national register of Sender Ids, which comes in to effect on the 1st of July. It requires providers to mark any unregistered Sender Id as 'Unverified' I haven't yet been able to find the full register (if it's even public) but I thought this is an interesting approach.
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And as we can see from Australia, this doesn’t need a blockchain.
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The Australian one will label them as Unverified. Personally, I'd prefer them to be blocked. If it's important and legitimate, they'll register.
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Good move, it's crazy how many scam calls and SMS I receive in Australia. In fact, if I get an SMS or a call, I just assume it's a scam.
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I don’t think this will cut down on spam so much as fraud. All spam calls I get don’t have registered IDs
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It is crazy that wasn't something already required. Here local sms-gateways always required paperwork to prove word you want to use as sender name is a brand you own.
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Interesting change. If it helps cut down on spam and phishing texts while keeping branded messages trustworthy, it sounds like a step in the right direction.
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I welcome this move, enforcing that SMS messages come from who they say they'll come from is important. Personally I think the whole system of replacing the point of origin with a name needs to be overhauled. Allowing a name as well is fine, but the practice of delivering messages that can't be replied to is pretty poor. Rather than have to futz around with a different number or website to go to, I should be able to just reply "STOP" if (for example) Dominos keep spamming me with Pizza offers I don't want.
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This sounds connected with their social media restrictions.
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It's not. Together with ongoing global tightening of regulations for permissible caller IDs on phone calls, it's all about fighting fraud. (I work in the telecom industry and am in the middle of all the waves this is causing for legitimate business cases.)