• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, April 5, 2009

Two U.S. Senators have introduced legislation aimed at curbing unsolicited text messages by bolstering government oversight of commercial messaging.

The proposed m-SPAM Act co-sponsored by Senators Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) would give the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission greater authority to restrict mobile spam and block commercial text messages to wireless numbers listed on the Do-Not-Call registry.

"Mobile spam invades both a consumer's cell phone and monthly bill," said Sen. Snowe, in a statement. "There is also increasing concern that mobile spam will become more than just an annoyance -- the viruses and malicious spyware that are often attached to traditional spam will most likely be more prevalent on wireless devices through m-spam."

Mobile phone users received approximately 1.1 billion SMS text messages in 2007, up 38% from 2006, according to Ferris Research. The firm, which focuses on messaging and content control estimates that total increased to 1.5 billion in 2008. But Ferris last year described the SMS spam problem as "negligible," compared to the scope of email spam.

The 2004 CAN-SPAM Act established regulations to prohibit sending unsolicited commercial email messages to wireless phones without permission. The new bill (S. 788) would extend those protections to text messages.