WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission, working against a congressionally mandate deadline, on Thursday began the process to ban mobile spam.
“Congress has made it very clear that it wants the FCC to get out in front of the emerging mobile-spam issue,” said FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein.
The FCC’s action begins the process of implementing the wireless provisions of the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (Can Spam) Act of 2003, which became effective in January.
In the Can Spam Act, Congress gave the FCC until the end of September to devise rules to ensure that spam does not become the problem in the mobile world that it has in the computer world.
This deadline is 270 days away, noted FCC Commissioner Michael Copps. FCC Chairman Michael Powell said his agency would work to meet the deadline.
Rather than proposing actual rules, the FCC is asking a number of questions on how to implement the law, which seeks to ban transmissions of unsolicited commercial e-mail to mobile phones without the prior consent of subscribers. The amendment sponsored by Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), ranking member of the House telecommunications subcommittee, advocates an opt-in approach to mobile spam, but gave the FCC the discretion of setting an opt-out rule. In contrast, wireline Internet consumers are restricted to having to opt out of unwanted electronic advertising.
The Can Spam Act was modeled closely after the new Do-Not-Call registry in telemarketing legislation. As such, the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general have the authority to enforce new anti-spam guidelines. But unlike the telemarketing legislation it includes a specific provision authorizing the FTC to create a Do-Not-Spam Registry. The FTC also this week began its process of implementing the Can Spam Act.
