FCC to ban spam on cellphones

Mobile Internet, The, August, 2004

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission said it would set up a list of Internet domains used by cellphone carriers to help keep unwanted "spam" messages off consumers' phones.

Marketers that don't want to run afoul of a national anti-spam law will be able to check the list to make sure they're not sending unsolicited messages to cellphones, the FCC said in a rule that was adopted by a unanimous vote.

Congress passed a law last year that prohibits spamming cell phones unless consumers have given permission first. The FCC was assigned to figure out how to implement that law. The Federal Trade Commission determined in June that a "do not e-mail" list would only lead to an increase in spam, but the FCC said such a list would work in the wireless world if it only consists of domain names such as sprintpcs.com, and not the names of individual accounts, such as customer@sprintpcs.com.

"The creation of a domain-name registry of wireless e-mail addresses makes sender compliance easy and inexpensive," FCC chairman Michael Powell said.

Wireless carriers like Sprint Corp. and Nextel Communications Inc. also can't spam their customers, the FCC said, though they can send messages for transactional purposes such as to confirm a billing charge.

The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, a wireless industry group, praised the FCC action and said it would cooperate.

Wireless spam is not yet a widespread problem in the United States, but is more commonplace in Japan and other countries where text messaging and mobile e-mail are more popular.

Unsolicited text messages are already prohibited in most circumstances under existing telemarketing laws. Consumers who signed up for the National Do Not Call Registry are protected from unsolicited text messages as well as telemarketing calls, and telemarketers may not use automatic dialers to call or text-message cellphones.

Marketers can send messages to consumers who have given verbal permission, but businesses should make sure to record these conversations, said Robert Jackson, a lawyer with Reed Smith in Washington.

"The FCC staff will generally accept a consumer's word that she or he did not give oral consent unless the sender can provide evidence to the contrary," Jackson said.