WASHINGTON-The wireless industry told the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee that it would like text messaging spam to be covered by the CAN Spam Act that was passed by the committee on Thursday. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said he expects the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 will be changed before the bill is brought up for a vote by the Senate.
The act is a legislation plan to combat spam.
However, the wireless industry is concerned about complying with some portions of the CAN Spam Act because text messaging has a 160-character count, said McCain.
“The wireless industry strongly supports efforts to protect the privacy and convenience of wireless customers by cracking down on short message spam,” said Steve Berry, senior vice president of government affairs at the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association. “But any spam bill that covers wireless should reflect the reality that handheld devices have space limitations.”
