[telecom] Why your cell phone is ripe for spam texts in 2012

Why your cell phone is ripe for spam texts in 2012

By Nancy Scola
June 1, 2012

In the late 1970s, the cutting edge of communications technologies
was the autodialer, a machine capable of calling up scores of people
in one shot, with little human involvement. It was innovative, and
annoying. By the early '90s, Congress had had enough. "Computerized
calls," railed South Carolina Democrat Fritz Hollings from the Senate
floor, "are the scourge of modern civilization."

And so, Congress legislated. But the focus was on commercial calls.
Mindful of the free flow of speech and - let's be honest - interested
in self-preservation, lawmakers exempted political calls from its
Telecommunications Consumer Protection Act. But Congress decided that
some phones were too sensitive to get even autodialed political
calls: those in hospitals, those designated for emergency purposes -
and those in our pockets.

But here we are, some two decades later, and voters across the
country are getting political text messages they never asked for.

....

http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2012/06/01/why-your-cell-phone-is-ripe-for-spam-texts-2012/
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