Group files text-blocking complaint with FCC
Karissa sent me this story from Macworld:
Eight consumer and public-interest groups filed a complaint with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, saying mobile phone providers should not be able to block text messages from political groups and advertisers.
[...]
If the FCC grants the petition, it would open up mobile phone networks to millions of pieces of text spam, Nelson added. Verizon Wireless currently blocks between 100 million and 200 million unwanted text messages advertising pornography and other products, he said. Text messaging in the U.S. would quickly become "unusable" because of all the unblocked spam, Nelson said. "I don't think [the consumer groups] understand what would happen if they're successful," he said. "If the folks who filed with the FCC get their way, it'd be a free-for-all."
Recent Related Entries
The New Journalism: Goosing the Gray LadyThis past year has been catastrophic for the New York Times. Advertising dropped off a cliff. The stock sank by 60 percent, and by fall, the paper had been rated a junk investment, announced plans to mortgage its new building,...
Pre-golden Age: The Coolest Robots of Pre-Golden Age SF
Forget WALL-E and GORT. Forget sexy Summer Glau and Tricia Helfer in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Battlestar Galactica. OK, don't forget them. But check it out: Long before Autobots, Fembots, and the Urkelbot, PGA SF authors obsessed over...
At M.I.T., Large Lectures Are Going the Way of the Blackboard
At M.I.T., two introductory courses are still required -- classical mechanics and electromagnetism -- but today they meet in high-tech classrooms, where about 80 students sit at 13 round tables equipped with networked computers.Instead of blackboards, the walls are covered...
E-mail Fail
It seems that a recent 'reply-all storm' at the State Department caused the entire e-mail infrastructure to crash. A notice sent to all State Department employees warned of disciplinary actions which will be taken if users "reply-all" to lists with...
OLPC downsizes half of its staff, cuts Sugar development
The One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project announced Wednesday that it plans to downsize half of its staff and reduce the salary of the remaining employees. OLPC will also halt its development of the open source Sugar environment and focus...

Leave a comment