Carriers, Activists Clash on Short-Code Practice Rules
Wireless carriers led by CTIA line up against public interest groups in comments to the FCC on whether text messages are protected by the anti-discrimination provisions of Title II of the Communications Act. Public interest groups led by Public Knowledge petitioned the commission in December after Verizon Wireless refused at first to issue a text messaging short code to abortion-rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America (CD Jan 16 p2).
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Public Knowledge and allies told the FCC it must provide clarity, noting that carriers haven’t changed policies giving them a say over content. “Verizon still maintains that it is entitled to decide who its customers could speak to, and about what, and while it claims to have a new, less discriminatory short code policy, no policy, new or old, has been released to the public,” the filing said. “Carriers have demonstrated that, given the chance, they will interfere with speech, and in fact continue to do exactly that to this day.”
“Censorship of text messaging has struck a nerve with the public,” judging from hundreds of filings at the FCC backing Public Knowledge’s petition, Gigi Sohn, the group’s president, said. “We urge the Commission to act to make certain that the rights of users large and small will be protected through this new, important medium of communications,” she said.
CTIA demanded the FCC reject the petition for more oversight of short codes. “Such action is neither warranted by market failure, nor is it a sound exercise of Commission discretion as a matter of law or policy,” CTIA said. Carrier practices regarding SMS and short codes are to “protect consumers, not restrict them.” the group said.
Granting the Public Knowledge petition would keep carriers from giving customers “protection from unwanted or unsolicited spam and improper billing, as well as misleading, fraudulent and illegal content,” Sprint Nextel said. “While wireless carriers do not block or filter mobile-to-mobile text messages, wireless carriers do monitor the use of short codes to ensure a positive customer experience.” The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said the public-interest groups’ petition “fails to show any evidence that there is a market failure regarding the ability to send text messages to or from wireless subscribers that would justify the imposition of onerous new regulations on the industry.”
Carriers sell the right to use short codes, which are five to six digits long, to companies or organizations to send short message service (SMS) text messages to their subscribers. Short codes are generally five to six digits long and are made available through the Common Short Code Administration.