FCC Urged To Ban Wireless Carriers From Refusing Text Campaigns

A coalition of digital rights groups and a New York lawmaker are pressing the Federal Communications Commission to ban wireless carriers from refusing to provide short codes based on content. In recent filings, organizations including Public Knowledge and Free Press, joined by New York state assemblyman Richard Brodsky (D-Westchester County), ask the FCC to reject wireless companies' argument that they should be able to turn away text message senders in order to control spam. "The provision of short codes is likely to have no effect at all on spam, in part because the provisioning of short codes does not grant any content provider any greater access to wireless consumers than they have today," the organizations wrote in last week's filings.