Cingular claims victory against data broker, goes after telemarketers

ATLANTA-Cingular Wireless L.L.C. won a lawsuit against a data broker, a victory that netted the carrier a cool $1.1 million. In a separate action, Cingular filed three additional lawsuits to protect against telemarketing calls and spam text messages.
Cingular was awarded $1.1 million in damages as a result of its suit against 1st Source Information Specialists Inc. in the U.S. District Court in Atlanta. The civil complaint was filed in December, and Cingular accused 1st Source of unlawfully acquiring and disseminating Cingular customers’ records.
“This victory underscores the fact that Cingular will not tolerate data burglars,” said Joaquin Carbonell, executive vice president and general counsel for Cingular.
Cingular’s lawsuit against 1st Source was part of a much larger call-records scandal that has embroiled a number of government agencies and other carriers. Although Congress debated the issue extensively, so far no legislation has been passed to specifically prohibit the sale of customer call records.
Meanwhile, Cingular also filed complaints against several other companies for using automatic dialers or spam text messages to market to its cell phone customers. The complaints include:
A suit against the operators of the Web sites webuyresorts.com and resortsellers.com for sending “unauthorized, deceptive and unsolicited commercial text messages” about buying and selling time-shares; the messages were sent to Cingular customers in October, according to the carrier.
In a separate lawsuit, Cingular alleged that Gary Bullard of Miramar, Fla., also used spam text messages for advertising free vacations in July.
Cingular also filed a suit alleging that Miami-based Hispanic Solutions Inc. made marketing calls to Cingular wireless customers using an illegal automatic dialing system in February and March.
The carrier is seeking permanent injunctions and damages in all three lawsuits.