Advocacy groups petition FCC for new text policies

Advocacy groups are petitioning the Federal Communications Commission to halt mobile operators from blocking text messages sent from competitors. Officials from Public Knowledge, Free Press and other groups are also asking the FCC to institute policies restricting carriers from blocking political messages, an issue that first generated headlines in September when Verizon Wireless rejected a request from non-profit group Naral Pro-Choice America to distribute an abortion rights text message program, a decision the operator quickly reversed [1].

"There is a real and ongoing problem in the U.S. communications network today," the groups said in an FCC filing Monday. "Those who control the entry points into the communications system want to be able to control who can speak to the public and what can be spoken about through the rapidly growing medium of text messaging. Wireless carriers are currently openly engaging in discrimination against potential competitors, and claim the right to exercise editorial control over what their customers read and who they can communicate with." Advocacy groups are also petitioning the FCC in order to guarantee text rights for hearing-impaired consumers--Karen Peltz Strauss, legal counsel for Communication Service for the Deaf, argues that subscribers dependent on messaging need guarantees their texts will be free from operator intervention.

Carriers counter that an FCC rule is unnecessary and could hurt consumers by limiting service providers' ability to block spam messages, and argue that the advocacy groups have failed to "present any facts that could justify regulation," according to comments made by Verizon Wireless to the FCC in March.

For more on the text controversy:
- read this PC World article [2]

Related articles:
FCC [3] unit probes text messaging outreach
FCC [4] to launch emergency text alert system