Are Carriers Pushing Mobile Spam?

Just as we were pointing out how quickly mobile spam seems to be increasing, Consumers Union is pointing the blame finger at the wireless carriers themselves - saying that they're pushing so hard to get users to sign up for mobile messaging with marketers, that consumers don't realize what they're getting into. They point to things like voting-by-SMS in American Idol, and how many people will do that - but how they don't realize it could open them up to receiving plenty of mobile spam in return. That does seem like a stretch - but perhaps shows like American Idol and the carriers that sponsor it need to be clear that they will not use the phone numbers they receive for return marketing without permission. Still, perhaps I just haven't heard about it, but I would think that anyone who has access to those who voted for the American Idol show would be incredibly stupid to turn around and use those numbers for outbound marketing purposes. Of course, when it comes to marketing efforts, I should probably never underestimate the level of stupidity out there.

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