Just noticed this on Ecademy; some not-mobile-marketing guys I met last week mentioned this move to me but it's the first official sign I've seen of it:

"The increase in number and scope of subscription services has brought with it a massive increase in complaints from customers that they have been misled, that money is being taken from their account without their permission, or that they are unable to unsubscribe from these services.

WHAT ARE WE DOING ABOUT THIS?

As indicated at the recent Vodafone Aggregators seminar, we are carrying out an urgent review on the operation of subscription based premium rate SMS services. We are pleased to say that this review has been given the support of O2, Orange and T-mobile and the findings will be reported to ICSTIS.
"

So: subscription SMS services have been jumped on by cowboys and Vodafone are going to sort it out.