WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Political text message spam is squarely in the sights of a new online petition calling on the Federal Communications Commission to stop the practice.
PocketSpammers.com, launched today by progressive organization Revolution Messaging, consists of a petition asking the FCC to end a new kind of voter suppression, which hits voters right in the wallet. Along with the petition, a short, fun video explains more about the issue and why people must take action today.
"We've already seen runaway spending on campaigns this year," said Scott Goodstein, founder of the firm. "We need for the FCC to assure people that unwanted & illegal text message spam will not be tolerated - period.”
The firm says some corporations claim they have found a loophole in the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) that allows them to send unsolicited political text message spam to users’ cell phones with no opt-in or opt-out component. Under this act, the FCC has adopted regulations, which prohibit sending spam text messages. Revolution Messaging is calling on the FCC to clarify that no loopholes are available to these unscrupulous organizations and that the ban on text messaging spam applies to ALL companies, including those who run Internet-to-phone text messaging programs.
To push this message to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and Commissioners Mignon Clyburn and Robert McDowe, Revolution Messaging also filed a petition with the FCC on January 19th asking them to clearly define the text message regulations included in the TCPA.
Revolution Messaging took its first stance against this practice in November 2010 when an onslaught of illegal text message spam was used against Democratic congressional races. The organization documented the practice and developed a calling tool for people to call their attorney general’s office.
The illegal practice resurfaced in October 2011 when Revolution Messaging helped the Virginia Democratic Party in working to stop unwanted text message spam used as a new type of voter suppression tactic in Virginia State Senate races. This led to the petition the firm filed with the FCC on January 19th.
Revolution Messaging predicts a costly 2012 election for voters if the FCC doesn’t stand up now and put an end to these unsolicited messages that are turning into a new form of voter suppression tactics.