Consumer Law

Mobile Payments and Consumer Protection

By Deepak Gupta

With over two-thirds of the world?s population having a mobile phone, companies are rapidly developing ?mobile payment? options for consumers in both developed and developing nations. The University of Washington School of Law and Samuelson Law, Technology & Public Policy Clinic at Berkeley Law are hosting a one-day conference in Seattle on October 29, 2010, that will explore the promises and pitfalls of this emerging commerce platform. Titled, Mobile Payments and Consumer Protection Conference, the conference will deal with questions such as:

• What are the benefits to the consumer of mobile payments ?(e.g. remittances, money transfer for the unbanked, efficiency, more security and control)?
• What advantages do mobile payments offer that other forms of payment mechanisms do not?
• How do mobile payments fit into existing regulatory frameworks in the US, EU and other markets?
• What sort of regulatory models will encourage mobile payments adoption in both developed and developing markets? Should telecommunications operators, financial institutions and other business entities be permitted to compete to provide these services?

Panelists and speakers include Ignacio Mas (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation), Adam Levitin (Georgetown Law), Bill Maurer (U.C. Irvine), Thomas Brown (O?Melveny & Meyers LLP), Gail Hillebrand (Consumers Union), Chris Hoofnagle (Berkeley Law), and many others. The conference is free, although registration is required. 5.0 General CLE credits are available ($50 for CLE course materials). (Thanks to Colin Hector, who is helping organizing this conference, for the tip.)

Details are available at https://www.law.washington.edu/cle/seminars/mobilepay/ 

Full post as published by CL&P Blog on October 08, 2010 (boomark / email).