• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, October 3, 2008

A coalition of digital rights groups and a New York lawmaker are pressing the Federal Communications Commission to ban wireless carriers from refusing to provide short codes based on content.

In recent filings, organizations including Public Knowledge and Free Press, joined by New York state assemblyman Richard Brodsky, ask the FCC to reject wireless companies' argument that they should be able to turn away text message senders in order to control spam.

"The provision of short codes is likely to have no effect at all on spam, in part because the provisioning of short codes does not grant any content provider any greater access to wireless consumers than they have today," the organizations wrote in last week's filings.

The comments were filed as part of a case brought last year with the FCC against Verizon Wireless by Public Knowledge and other groups. That petition largely stemmed from Verizon Wireless' decision last year to prevent National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) Pro-Choice America to send text messages to its supporters. After an article about the issue appeared in The New York Times, the company said it changed its position.

Still, digital rights advocates say the FCC should prevent wireless companies from shutting off access to text messaging in the future. "We're trying to make sure that we don't allow large corporations to censor thoughts, ideas and communications," Brodsky said.

But the wireless association CTIA argued to the FCC that the issue is not censorship, but preventing spam. The group says the ability to short codes helps them "protect their customers from fraud, spam, and objectionable material."

Not surprisingly, Public Knowledge and the other petitioners dispute that conclusion. "The wireless carriers have not explained how granting this petition would result in an increase in spam, and there is good evidence that it would not," they argue. They add that people can already send unsolicited ads to phones without the use of short codes.

In addition, they argue that even if text messaging is subject to common carrier rules, wireless companies could still cut off spammers, just as phone companies can disconnect people who abuse landlines.

Verizon Wireless declined to comment for this article. But in papers filed with the FCC, the company argued that it had decided to activate NARAL's short code "before the flurry of media and public attention."