DISTRIBUTED LEDGER TECHNOLOGY (DLT) FOR PROTECTION FROM
UNSOLICITED CUSTOMER COMMUNICATIONS (UCC)
A massive amount of data is generated every year and used by governments, scientists, and businesses. With the increasing deployment of critical points and sharing of personal data, the need for an efficient consent management system to handle different applications and databases cannot be underestimated. Consent management platforms (CMPs) are becoming mainstream for data tracking, monitoring, and maintaining the privacy and the global market size is projected to reach a valuation of USD 2,271.1 million by 2030, to register a steady CAGR of 21.9% from 2021 to 2030.
With growing concerns for data privacy, the adoption of strict initiatives such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and similar policies are becoming increasingly common in major countries. Digital disruption has been shown to enhance ROI, improve industries, and increase engagement with consumers. Clients want a multi-channel experience without compromising their privacy or security, demanding personalized interactions with companies. This is where consent management plays a role with DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology) for streamlined digital communications.
What is UCC?
Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC) refers to any form of communication or messaging that a subscriber chooses to not receive. It disregards their consent and does not include:
Any transactional messages
Messages transmitted on behalf of the Central Government or State Government or agencies authorized by such bodies.
What is DLT?
Distributed Ledger Technology is commonly referred to as Blockchain which is a technological infrastructure or protocol used to store data in an immutable fashion in the form of blocks.
Blockchain is decentralized and Distributed Ledgers offer key benefits, the major ones of them being highly secure, immutable, transparent, and tamper-proof. All transactions in these databases are timestamped and assigned a unique cryptographic signature. All participants on these ledgers can view all records in question and the technology provides a verifiable and auditable trail which is stored on particular datasets
What is TxtChain?
TxtChain is a RegTech-enabled DLT platform that enables telcos to actively scrub consent and eliminate cases of unsolicited messaging from third parties and external agents. Any anomalies in submitted data and registered information by entities are checked and audited by the platform, which further manages the databases of each text message and its associated entity as a block on a secured platform driven by DLT Technology.
Telecom Regulators get direct node access to the TxtChain platform’s database from where they can access all registered entities, including viewing submitted header, content and consent. The user can directly access the database and figure out unsolicited entities that attempt to spam end-users and penalize them directly.
How can the TxtChain ecosystem be deployed?
TxtChain solution is for individual Telco Operators, who will extend access to the portal to telemarketers and enterprises to register themselves on the platform. Telecom Regulatory bodies will monitor and regulate the compliance of the TxtChain platform from its node on the platform.
Telco operators within a country will exchange all metadata of registered entities, user consent, and request campaign header and content using the scrubber module deployed at each operator network. Telcos will communicate via SMSC directly, but the SMSC can terminate only those text messages from the scrubber module approved by the TxtChain platform.
What types of messages are excluded from TxtChain?
TxtChain is for commercial communications only, hence all P2P communications are excluded from TxtChain. Telco Operators are recommended to deploy Armour SMS Firewall to monitor any unsolicited traffic coming from their P2P links, as UCC on P2P may attract penalties by Regulators as well as result in disappointed subscribers.
How will user consent be registered?
Users can submit to give their consent to telcos and receive commercial communication as per the guidelines of their respective regulations.
In addition to the consent collected by the Telco, enterprises and telemarketers can also collect information separately from customers and submit it to the Telco Operator who will further update the consent registry for the individual user. All commercial text messages before sending will be scrubbed by the operator from the real-time updated consent registry.
How will TxtChain help to identify unsolicited messages and who will have the right to penalize malicious entities?
TxtChain will help Telecom regulators and operators monitor, detect and block unsolicited communications over SMS channels. They will be able to trace the chain to the origination entity of the unsolicited message provider. All malicious entities can be identified, and their activities can be shared with all participants to take further corrective actions.
This will enable complete transparency not only for telcos to penalize malicious entities but also for regulators who can penalize them for not identifying unsolicited communications and lacking compliance with UCC guidelines.
Does Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) provide the requisite capabilities to solve the challenges of Unsolicited Customer Communication?
DLT provides complete privacy of customer data and preferences based on Blockchain. DLT Ledger uses advanced blockchain techniques to record and store large databases with ultimate security. It can integrate business rules, smart contracts, digital signatures, etc., to make it suitable for deployment in a challenging environment. DLT is resistant to unauthorized changes, and all matching copies are available to all participants simultaneously. The changes happen only after a consensus.
