FunMobile agrees to $1M settlement over charges for mobile content

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum today announced a $1 million settlement with a Hong Kong wireless content firm in connection with a state probe into consumer complaints about charges for third-party services that were not authorized.
“As the first content provider to adopt advertising standards created by this office, FunMobile has clearly stated its intent to lead mobile content providers in setting new marketing standards that will benefit Florida consumers and cellphone users nationwide,” said McCollum.
McCollum’s office said the deal builds on earlier agreements with advertising networks and a major wireless service provider, and that the settlement with MobileFunster Inc., doing business as FunMobile, is the first of its kind to address “another link in a business model that includes wireless carriers, billing aggregators, advertising networks and content providers like FunMobile.”
The settlement with FunMobile, according to the Florida AG, requires that the price of cellphone content or services and other material terms of purchase be conspicuously disclosed on all online ordering screens.
Mobile-phone operators are increasingly being slapped with class-action lawsuits in which subscribers allege they are being hit with added charges from text messaging and content to which they did not subscribe.