Public Knowledge, joined by a prominent state legislator as well as consumer and public interest groups, today told the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that extending consumer protections to text messaging will not harm wireless carriers’ ability to fight spam or other harms to their network.
“This filing further bolsters a compelling case that text messaging and short codes are vital forms of communications and deserve protection from discrimination imposed by wireless companies,” said Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge. “We hope the Commission will act quickly to prevent discrimination against millions of text messaging consumers,” she said. The original petition asking the Commission to make certain that text messages and the short codes used to dial them are protected from interference from telephone companies was filed Dec. 11, 2007.