Text Message SPAM

ANCHOR LEAD IN:
Source: Gartner Research
HOW HOT IS TEXT MESSAGING? EXPERTS SAY IT'S NOW A 70-BILLION DOLLAR GLOBAL
INDUSTRY - AND GROWING! UNFORTUNATELY, TEXT MESSAGE 'SPAM' IS GROWING TOO! AND THESE ADS ARE NOT ONLY ANNOYING - THEY ALSO HIT YOU IN THE POCKETBOOK. THAT'S TODAY'S HEADS UP.

TRACK ONE Length: 04
BILL ZAUMEN (ZAW-mun) CAN SEE LOTS OF BENEFITS TO HAVING TEXT MESSAGING ON HIS
CELLPHONE…

SOT:
KEY @:06 Bill Zaumen, Blocked his text messaging
"If there's a natural disaster, and you want to send a message to relatives saying that everything is okay."

TRACK TWO Length: 08
DESPITE THE BENEFITS, ZAUMEN BLOCKED TEXT MESSAGING ON HIS PHONE. THAT'S
BECAUSE HE WAS GETTING SLAMMED WITH TEXT MESSAGE SPAM…AND THEN CHARGED
FOR IT!

SOT:
NO KEY
"It doesn't cost them anything to do it. But it costs me ten cents a message of course to receive it."

TRACK THREE Length: 04
TEN CENTS HERE OR THERE MAY NOT SOUND LIKE MUCH - BUT IT CAN REALLY ADD UP.

SOT:
KEY @: 29 Bill Zaumen, Blocked his text messaging
"I could see it growing to thirty dollars or forty dollars a month very quickly."

TRACK FOUR Length: 07
JOE RIDOUT (RIDE-out) OF CONSUMER ACTION BELIEVES ONE REASON THE SPAM CONTINUES
IS BECAUSE IT PUTS MONEY IN THE PCOKETS OF MOBILE OPERATORS.

SOT:
KEY @: 38 Joe Ridout, Consumer Action
"The cellphone companies have a real disincentive to do anything about this problem, because they get to profit from all the spam traffic."

TRACK FIVE Length: 08
BUT AN ORGANIZATION THAT REPRESENTS ALL SECTORS OF THE WIRELESS INDUSTRY, SAYS
IT'S JUST THE OPPOSITE. THEY HAVE EVERY INCENTIVE TO STOP THE SPAM.

SOT
KEY @: 54 Joe Farren, Director of Public Affairs, CTIA
"It's an evolving threat. Spam does nothing but gum up the wireless network and therefore increase costs for consumers and increase costs for the carriers."

TRACK SIX Length: 07
IN GENERAL TEXT MESSAGE SPAM IS ILLEGAL UNDER WHAT'S KNOWN AS THE 'CAN-SPAM'
LEGISLATION. BUT…THERE ARE LOOPHOLES…

SOT
KEY @: 1L12 Joe Ridout, Consumer Action
"If you have a pre-existing business relationship with a company, they're allowed to send you these kinds of messages."

TRACK SEVEN Length: 12
YOU CAN ALWAYS BLOCK THE FEATURE, AS ZAUMEN DID…ALSO…BE CAREFUL OF WHO
HAS YOUR CELL NUMBER…AND WHAT YOU DOWNLOAD ONTO YOUR PHONE, ADD YOUR
NUMBER TO THE DO-NOT CALL REGISTRY… UNTIL THE SPAM STOPS, ZAUMEN ISN'T
RISKING IT…

SOT
NO KEY
"Once it started I just knew what was going to happen."

ANCHOR TAG:
IF YOU DO GET CHARGES YOU CAN ALWAYS CONTEST THEM WITH YOUR PHONE
COMPANY…AND FILE A COMPLAINT WITH THE FCC.

SOURCE INFORMATION:
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Thank you.

Joe Ridout
Spokesman
Consumer Action
221 Main Street
San Francisco, CA
415-777-9648, ext. 306

Consumer Action is a national non-profit education and advocacy organization celebrating its 35th anniversary in 2006. Consumer Action is
membership-based organization that was founded in San Francisco in 1971. During its more than three decades, Consumer Action has continued to serve
consumers nationwide by advancing consumer rights, referring consumers to complaint-handling agencies through our free hotline, publishing educational
materials in Chinese, English, Korean, Spanish, Vietnamese and other languages, advocating for consumers in the media and before lawmakers, and
comparing prices on credit cards, bank accounts and long distance services.

Joseph Farren JFarren@ctia.org
CTIA - The Wireless Association®
1400 16th Street, NW
Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: (202) 785-0081
Fax: (202) 785-0721
According to CTIA, a wireless industry group, 48.7 billion text messages were sent domestically in the second half of last year -- almost double the amount
sent in the corresponding period a year before. CTIA says there are about 208 million wireless subscribers in the United States, and they send
roughly 10 billion text messages each month. Source:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/08/04/MNGILKB9L51.DTL

Nearly 10 billion text messages are sent by U.S. cell phone users every month…One recent study indicates that millions of text-message spams are in
circulation already.