"Spam is already plaguing some wireless devices in the U.S., despite claims at a spam forum in Washington, D.C., last week that the nation was behind others at least in that one type of unwanted commercial e-mail.
PDAs that allow users to download their e-mail, such as BlackBerry devices, have the same problems with spam as "wired" computers, but have the added problems of cellular-phone spam, because PDA users may be paying per-minute charges to download the junk e-mail."
This article discusses ways to use Spam filters to eliminate corporate email spam which will reduce replicated Spam to BlackBerries and phones, but there's not much discussion about what to do with direct SMS spam. Partly, that's because the US hasn't been hard hit with SMS spam attacks. Yet.
Japan and the EU have. The EU considered SMS spam-bans but settled on a simple "opt-out" solution. At this point, there simply aren't a lot of controls to prevent direct SMS spam in the US. But as the problem grows, which it will, wireless providers, if not the FTC, will need to put in place ways to keep it in check.
Watch for one of the drivers to be economic, since many people pay per text message or have only a limited number of free ones, most will request chargebacks for SMS spam from providers. This will increase customer support calls and likely drive wireless providers to stem the tide of SMS spam when it hits the States.
Posted by Diana at May 10, 2003 11:46 AM