1. Introduction: These terms and conditions govern your use of the textBomb service and this website, textBomb.org; by using textBomb, you accept these terms and conditions in full.
2. If you disagree with these terms and conditions or any part of these terms and conditions, you must not use textBomb.
3. You must be at least 18 years of age to use textBomb. By using textBomb and by agreeing to these terms and conditions you warrant and represent that you are at least 18 years of age.


4. Licence to use textBomb: Unless otherwise stated, we own the intellectual property rights in textBomb and material on the website or textBomb. Subject to the licence below, all these intellectual property rights are reserved. You may view, download for caching purposes only, and print pages from the website or textBomb for your own personal use, subject to the restrictions set out below and elsewhere in these terms and conditions. You must not:
   (a) republish material from this website (including republication on another website); (b) sell, rent or sub-license material from the website or textBomb;
   (c) show any material from the website or textBomb in public;
   (d) reproduce, duplicate, copy or otherwise exploit material on textBomb for a commercial purpose;
   (e) edit or otherwise modify any material on the website or textBomb; or
   (f) redistribute material from this website except for content specifically and expressly made available for redistribution


5. Acceptable use: You must not use textBomb in any way that causes, or may cause, damage to the website or textBomb or impairment of the availability or accessibility of the website or textBomb; or in any way which is unlawful, illegal, fraudulent or harmful, or in connection with any unlawful, illegal, fraudulent or harmful purpose or activity.
6. You must not use textBomb to copy, store, host, transmit, send, use, publish or distribute any material which consists of (or is linked to) any spyware, computer virus, Trojan horse, worm, keystroke logger, rootkit or other malicious computer software.
7. You must not conduct any systematic or automated data collection activities (including without limitation scraping, data mining, data extraction and data harvesting) on or in relation to textBomb without our express written consent.
8. You must not use textBomb to transmit or send unsolicited commercial communications.
9. You must not use textBomb for any purposes related to marketing without our express written consent.
   


10. Restricted access: Access to certain areas of textBomb is restricted. We reserve the right to restrict access to areas of textBomb, or indeed our whole website, at our discretion.
11. If we provide you with a user ID and password to enable you to access restricted areas of textBomb or other content or services, you must ensure that that user ID and password is kept confidential.
12. We may disable your user ID and password in our sole discretion without notice or explanation.


13. User generated content: In these terms and conditions, “your user content” means material (including without limitation text, images, audio material, video material and audio-visual material) that you submit to textBomb, for whatever purpose.
14. You grant to us a worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use, reproduce, adapt, publish, translate and distribute your user content in any existing or future media. You also grant to us the right to sub-license these rights, and the right to bring an action for infringement of these rights.
15. Your user content must not be illegal or unlawful, must not infringe any third party's legal rights, and must not be capable of giving rise to legal action whether against you or us or a third party (in each case under any applicable law).
16. You must not submit any user content to the website or textBomb that is or has ever been the subject of any threatened or actual legal proceedings or other similar complaint.
17. We reserve the right to edit or remove any material submitted to textBomb, or stored on our servers, or hosted or published upon textBomb.
18. Notwithstanding our rights under these terms and conditions in relation to user content, we do not undertake to monitor the submission of such content to, or the publication of such content on, textBomb.


19. Limited warranties: We do not warrant the completeness or accuracy of the information published on this website; nor do we commit to ensuring that the website or textBomb remains available or that the material on the website or textBomb is kept up-to-date.
20. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law we exclude all representations, warranties and conditions relating to this website and the use of this website (including, without limitation, any warranties implied by law of satisfactory quality, fitness for purpose and/or the use of reasonable care and skill).


21. Limitations and exclusions of liability: Nothing in these terms and conditions will: (a) limit or exclude our or your liability for death or personal injury resulting from negligence; (b) limit or exclude our or your liability for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; (c) limit any of our or your liabilities in any way that is not permitted under applicable law; or (d) exclude any of our or your liabilities that may not be excluded under applicable law.
22. The limitations and exclusions of liability set out in this Section and elsewhere in these terms and conditions: (a) are subject to the preceding paragraph; and (b) govern all liabilities arising under the terms and conditions or in relation to the subject matter of the terms and conditions, including liabilities arising in contract, in tort (including negligence) and for breach of statutory duty.
23. To the extent that the website or textBomb and the information and services on the website or textBomb are provided free-of-charge, we will not be liable for any loss or damage of any nature.
24. We will not be liable to you in respect of any losses arising out of any event or events beyond our reasonable control.
25. We will not be liable to you in respect of any business losses, including (without limitation) loss of or damage to profits, income, revenue, use, production, anticipated savings, business, contracts, commercial opportunities or goodwill.
26. We will not be liable to you in respect of any loss or corruption of any data, database or software.
27. We will not be liable to you in respect of any special, indirect or consequential loss or damage.


28. Indemnity: You hereby indemnify us and undertake to keep us indemnified against any losses, damages, costs, liabilities and expenses (including without limitation legal expenses and any amounts paid by us to a third party in settlement of a claim or dispute on the advice of our legal advisers) incurred or suffered by us arising out of any breach by you of any provision of these terms and conditions[, or arising out of any claim that you have breached any provision of these terms and conditions.


29. Breaches of these terms and conditions: Without prejudice to our other rights under these terms and conditions, if you breach these terms and conditions in any way, we may take such action as we deem appropriate to deal with the breach, including suspending your access to the website or textBomb, prohibiting you from accessing the website or textBomb, blocking computers using your IP address from accessing the website or textBomb, contacting your internet service provider to request that they block your access to the website or textBomb and/or bringing court proceedings against you.


30. Variation: We may revise these terms and conditions from time-to-time. Revised terms and conditions will apply to the use of textBomb from the date of the publication of the revised terms and conditions on textBomb. Please check this page regularly to ensure you are familiar with the current version.


31. Assignment: We may transfer, sub-contract or otherwise deal with our rights and/or obligations under these terms and conditions without notifying you or obtaining your consent.
32. You may not transfer, sub-contract or otherwise deal with your rights and/or obligations under these terms and conditions.


33. Severability: If a provision of these terms and conditions is determined by any court or other competent authority to be unlawful and/or unenforceable, the other provisions will continue in effect. If any unlawful and/or unenforceable provision would be lawful or enforceable if part of it were deleted, that part will be deemed to be deleted, and the rest of the provision will continue in effect.


34. Exclusion of third party rights: These terms and conditions are for the benefit of you and us, and are not intended to benefit any third party or be enforceable by any third party. The exercise of our and your rights in relation to these terms and conditions is not subject to the consent of any third party.


35. Entire agreement: These terms and conditions constitute the entire agreement between you and us in relation to your use of textBomb, and supersede all previous agreements in respect of your use of this website and the textBomb service.


36. Law and jurisdiction: These terms and conditions will be governed by and construed in accordance with English law, and any disputes relating to these terms and conditions will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.


37. Registrations and authorisations: We are members of the Law Society and adhere to their code of conduct. You can find the online version of the code at http://www.sra.org.uk/code-of-conduct.page
38. We are not currently VAT registered.
39. We are not marketing to unknown people. We provide a permission based service. Therefore, we are not subject to the Electronic Mail Regualtions. However, we do adhere to the code of practice issued by the Information Commissioner in an attempt to achieve best practice. Details can be found at: http://www.ico.gov.uk/Default.aspx


40. PAYMENT: You agree to pay all invoices within 28 days.
41. We reserve the right to increase our charges at any time without notice.


42. ADDING CONTACTS: You can add names and phone numbers of people to textBomb. This is done via the Preferences page. If you do so you must ensure that you have the permission of that person. Failure to do so could leave you in breach of the Electronic Mail Regulations. For a summary please refer to this link. You should ensure that your contacts are aware that they have been added to textBomb.
43. A summary is also provided below to assist your understanding of this.


44. SMS Gateway: We are not a mobile phone company. We send text messages at your behest and inline with our terms and conditions. We are not liable for the failure of a message to be sent or recieved. That is out of our control.


45. Our details:
46. The full name of our company is textBomb.
47. We are not yet a registered company.
48. Our address is 7 College Terrace, London E3 5AN.
49. You can contact us by email by clicking on the CONTACT link.

 

PLAIN ENGLISH LEGAL SUMMARY:

Bulk SMS is taking off around the world, especially in the United Kingdom. Before you start sending, however, be sure that you’ve acquainted yourself with the necessary regulations to ensure that your SMS activity is not only profitable, but also legal.

The use of bulk SMS in the United Kingdom is governed by The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, and can be found by clicking on the aforementioned link. To some, however, it might prove to be a confusing read, which is why we’ve translated it into layman’s terms below:

“…but it doesn’t even mention Bulk SMS”
If you’ve gone through regulations first hand, then you might be a little confused to find that it doesn’t really mention “SMS”, “bulk SMS” or even “text message” anywhere. But, it does state that:

“‘electronic mail’ means any text, voice, sound or image message sent over a public electronic communications network which can be stored in the network or in the recipient’s terminal equipment until it is collected by the recipient and includes messages sent using a short message service;”

This simply means that wherever you see the term “electronic mail”, you should read “bulk SMS”.

Getting to Grips with Bulk SMS Regulations

Unfortunately the law isn’t always written to be immediately understood by everyone and sometimes even requires a bit of legal expertise to understand exactly what is meant. As such, you’ll find a simple explanation regarding the regulations relating to bulk SMS below.

We would however like to recommend that you acquaint yourself with these regulations first hand. They can be found in sections (22) and (23) of The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003.

Contact Details

You may only get the contact details of your clients for the purposes of bulk SMS marketing during a sale or negotiation of a product and/or service. This also means that you are not allowed to send them an unsolicited email or SMS asking them to opt-in.

Example: After walking around London for hours, Emma finally found the perfect pair of shoes to go with her New Year’s outfit. As she was paying for her new footwear, the shop assistant offered Emma the opportunity to sign up for SMS alerts.

Informed Choice

Whilst obtaining the contact details of your customers for the purposes of direct marketing through bulk SMS, you’ll have to let them know how you’ll be using their information.

Example: Being the recipient of tonnes of unwanted emails everyday, Emma is remains reluctant to hand out her contact details to anyone but her closest friends. The shop assistant, however, explains that Emma will only ever receive information regarding special offers from the store. Satisfied (and generally impressed with the available range of products), Emma agrees.

Related Products

When using bulk SMS to communicate direct marketing information with your contacts, you may only communicate information regarding similar products and/or services in your messages. This not only makes legal sense, but marketing sense, too.

Example: Emma’s first message from the store arrives the 31st December, informing her of “70% off on all designer labels, but only until 5pm, January 2nd”.

Be Visible

In every bulk SMS message you send, you’ll have to identify yourself. This can be as easy as including your company name in the message body, or using your company name as the sender ID.

Example: Instead of using a long unmemorable number to get in touch with Emma, the store had a custom Sender ID created. Before Emma even opens the message, she’ll see that the sender is G1rl-fashion. Alternatively, the store could have included it’s name in the message body, for example “Happy New Year from G1rl-fashion!”

Unsubscribe

At all times, your intended recipient must be made aware that they have the option to stop all further bulk SMS communication from you. Furthermore, the destination where they can send their unsubscribe message to must exist, and must remain cost-free, save for the incurred communication fees to complete the unsubscribe operation (i.e. the cost of  one local SMS).

Example: As Emma reaches the end of the message she receives, it reads, “To unsubscribe, simply text “STOP” to xxxxx. Normal operator charges apply”. Seeing as Emma is very impressed with her shoes and the available specials, it is unlikely that she’ll use the unsubscribe option any time soon. Still, it’s good to know that it’s there.

That being said, while the characters, company names and the situation of the above example remains fictional, the regulations are a reality that everyone using bulk SMS messages for direct marketing purposes will have to abide by. To find out more about bulk SMS, look at the bulk SMS page, and see how you can extend your business.

Before you start sending, however, be sure that you’ve acquainted yourself with the necessary regulations to ensure that your SMS activity is not only profitable, but also legal.

The use of bulk SMS in the United Kingdom is governed by The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, and can be found by clicking on the aforementioned link. To some, however, it might prove to be a confusing read, which is why we’ve translated it into layman’s terms below:

“…but it doesn’t even mention Bulk SMS”
If you’ve gone through regulations first hand, then you might be a little confused to find that it doesn’t really mention “SMS”, “bulk SMS” or even “text message” anywhere. But, it does state that:

“‘electronic mail’ means any text, voice, sound or image message sent over a public electronic communications network which can be stored in the network or in the recipient’s terminal equipment until it is collected by the recipient and includes messages sent using a short message service;”

This simply means that wherever you see the term “electronic mail”, you should read “bulk SMS”.

Getting to Grips with Bulk SMS Regulations

Unfortunately the law isn’t always written to be immediately understood by everyone and sometimes even requires a bit of legal expertise to understand exactly what is meant. As such, you’ll find a simple explanation regarding the regulations relating to bulk SMS below.

We would however like to recommend that you acquaint yourself with these regulations first hand. They can be found in sections (22) and (23) of The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003.

Contact Details

You may only get the contact details of your clients for the purposes of bulk SMS marketing during a sale or negotiation of a product and/or service. This also means that you are not allowed to send them an unsolicited email or SMS asking them to opt-in.

Example: After walking around London for hours, Emma finally found the perfect pair of shoes to go with her New Year’s outfit. As she was paying for her new footwear, the shop assistant offered Emma the opportunity to sign up for SMS alerts.

Informed Choice

Whilst obtaining the contact details of your customers for the purposes of direct marketing through bulk SMS, you’ll have to let them know how you’ll be using their information.

Example: Being the recipient of tonnes of unwanted emails everyday, Emma is remains reluctant to hand out her contact details to anyone but her closest friends. The shop assistant, however, explains that Emma will only ever receive information regarding special offers from the store. Satisfied (and generally impressed with the available range of products), Emma agrees.

Related Products

When using bulk SMS to communicate direct marketing information with your contacts, you may only communicate information regarding similar products and/or services in your messages. This not only makes legal sense, but marketing sense, too.

Example: Emma’s first message from the store arrives the 31st December, informing her of “70% off on all designer labels, but only until 5pm, January 2nd”.

Be Visible

In every bulk SMS message you send, you’ll have to identify yourself. This can be as easy as including your company name in the message body, or using your company name as the sender ID.

Example: Instead of using a long unmemorable number to get in touch with Emma, the store had a custom Sender ID created. Before Emma even opens the message, she’ll see that the sender is G1rl-fashion. Alternatively, the store could have included it’s name in the message body, for example “Happy New Year from G1rl-fashion!”

Unsubscribe

At all times, your intended recipient must be made aware that they have the option to stop all further bulk SMS communication from you. Furthermore, the destination where they can send their unsubscribe message to must exist, and must remain cost-free, save for the incurred communication fees to complete the unsubscribe operation (i.e. the cost of  one local SMS).

Example: As Emma reaches the end of the message she receives, it reads, “To unsubscribe, simply text “STOP” to xxxxx. Normal operator charges apply”. Seeing as Emma is very impressed with her shoes and the available specials, it is unlikely that she’ll use the unsubscribe option any time soon. Still, it’s good to know that it’s there.

That being said, while the characters, company names and the situation of the above example remains fictional, the regulations are a reality that everyone using bulk SMS messages for direct marketing purposes will have to abide by. To find out more about bulk SMS, look at the bulk SMS page, and see how you can extend your business.