Two US senators declared war on spam on Thursday. Senator Olympia Snowe, a Republican from Maine, and Senator Bill Nelson, a Democrat from Florida, introduced legislation aimed at curbing unsolicited text messages on mobile devices.<\/p>\n
The m-SPAM Act of 2009 is intended to crack down on what the senators described as a "growing nuisance for millions of wireless customers."<\/p>\n
"Mobile spam invades both a consumer’s cell phone and monthly bill," Snowe said in a statement.<\/p>\n
"There is also increasing concern that mobile spam will become more than just an annoyance," she said, citing the danger of "viruses and malicious spyware."<\/p>\n
"This significant and looming threat must be addressed in order to protect consumers and vital wireless services," Snowe said. "Spam e-mail is bad enough," said Nelson.<\/p>\n
"Now, we are seeing a proliferation of unwanted text messages and consumers are getting stuck paying."<\/p>\n
The legislation would tighten existing laws and prohibit commercial text messages being sent to wireless numbers listed on the Do-Not-Call registry, a list of subscribers who have indicated they do not want to receive unsolicited calls from vendors.<\/p>\n
According to figures cited by the senators, US wireless users received more than 1.1 million spam text messages in 2007, up 38 percent from 2006.<\/p>\n
Some wireless subscribers have to pay to send and receive text messages with some plans charging as much as 20 cents per message. <\/p>\n