Public Interest Groups Say Short Code Protections Growing in Importance
Public interest groups led by Public Knowledge fired back at CTIA and wireless carriers opposing their petition asking the FCC to declare that short codes and text messages come under anti-discrimination provisions of the Communications Act’s Title II. The groups fear resistance could stall action on their petition and thought the time right to re-engage on the issue, said a supporter of the petition.
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“Text messaging and short codes are vital forms of communications and deserve protection from discrimination imposed by wireless companies,” said Gigi Sohn, president of Public Knowledge. “We hope the Commission will act quickly to prevent discrimination against millions of text messaging consumers.”
Joining Public Knowledge were Free Press, Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, EDUCAUSE, Media Access Project, New America Foundation, U.S. PIRG and CREDO Mobile. They originally petitioned after Verizon Wireless refused to issue a text messaging short code to abortion-rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America (CD Jan 16 p2), then relented. Text messaging plays an “increasingly vital role” in “our society and democracy” and the issues raised are gaining relevance, the filing said, noting that carriers downplay their significance. “The wireless providers often attempt to diminish the importance of short codes by alleging that short codes are simply a means of ‘advertising.'”
“The wireless industry has submitted a number of filings in the docket to which we had not responded,” Public Knowledge spokesman Art Brodsky said. “We figured we would answer them all at once, which we did here.”
Carriers’ own documents validate their petition, said the public interest groups. “The carriers’ documents confirm that wireless carriers often discriminate against would-be providers of text messaging services via short codes based on the content of the information or the type of services they seek to offer,” they said. “Wireless carriers admit that they pick and choose among providers of short code text messaging services.” The wireless industry even publishes an explicit set of guidelines offering examples of types of short code-based campaigns deemed acceptable, the groups said.
Carriers counter that the market works and the commission doesn’t need to step in since carriers don’t even block text messages (CD March 18 p5). In an interview, CTIA General Counsel Michael Altschul disputed public interest group arguments. The groups mistakenly claim that common short codes are a telecommunications service because they can reach 250 million subscribers, he said. “Telecommunications services and information services are defined by Congress in the Communications Act,” Altschul said. “The FCC has long recognized that these are information services.”
The filing ignores CTIA arguments that carriers need flexibility to combat not only spam but also objectionable comment and fraud, Altschul said. “They also continue to blur the difference between SMS messages and short codes,” he said. “In fact, every of the 250 million wireless subscribers can send a text message to any other one without any interference.”