Florida AG sues Buongiorno over marketing tactics: Buongiorno plans to “vigorously defend” business

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum sued Buongiorno S.p.A, accusing the Italian mobile content giant of blatantly deceptive practices and cramming charges onto consumers’ cellphone bills.
“For too long, not enough attention has been paid to the manner in which unscrupulous companies were conducting business in a proverbial Wild West of rogue Internet marketing. We are going to clean up this industry,” said McCollum, a U.S. congressman in the 1980s and 1990s. “Internet companies will not be permitted to defraud and deceive Florida’s consumers.”
The lawsuit stemmed from a probe by the attorney general’s newly created CyberFraud Task Force into deceptive marketing over the Internet.
McCollum’s office said a particularly troubling aspect of Buongiorno’s practices was the “alleged direct targeting of children as the initial consumer and the concern that the company’s advertising is supposedly created specifically to mislead young purchasers of cellphone content.”
For example, according to the Florida attorney general, children visit Internet sites that are prominently displaying ads for free or 100% complimentary ringtones, but the disclaimer that the minor is signing up for a monthly subscription is hidden on a separate page or buried in fine print. McCollum said thousands of parents later found recurring charges of $10 or more on their cellphone bills.
In a lengthy response to the lawsuit, Buongiorno said it “will vigorously defend our business and the responsible way in which we market our business and subscribe our consumers.”
Specifically, the company said it requires a two-step purchase process, thereby explicitly gaining consumers’ consent. The company also said it “discourages” children from subscribing to its services, and it “clearly discloses” all charges associated with its services.
Buongiorno said its customers can cancel their service at any time.
Buongiorno said it partners with more than 80 leading mobile phone carriers including AT&T Mobility, Sprint Nextel Corp. Vodafone Group, Orange, O2, TIM, Telefonica and Turkcell.
Sandi Copes, a spokesperson for McCollum, said the investigation is ongoing and other companies could face legal action.