Mobile spam act signed into law?

The FCC adopted rules to prohibit unsolicited commercial e-mail messages to wireless devices in the 2003 CAN-SPAM Act. However, the ban does not cover SMS messages.

Now, a new act has been proposed. The "Stop M-Spam Abuse as a Sales industry Habit Act of 2008" (H.R. 5769, also known as the SMASH Act of 2008) would require the Federal Trade Commission to "issue regulations to revise the Telemarketing Sales Rule to explicitly prohibit, as an abusive telemarketing act or practice, the sending of any electronic commercial message containing an unsolicited advertisement to a telephone number that is assigned to a commercial mobile service and listed on the FTC's do-not-call registry."

The act already has some early bipartisan support and the Obama administration has shown its willingness to quickly target commercial practices which hurt consumers, such as its call to reform the credit card industry. On the other hand, marketers and the telecommunications industry may push back against any regulation of SMS messaging, and may enlist sympathetic members of Congress to scuttle the bill, water down its provision, or delay its enactment.

Prediction: The SMASH Act will be passed by both houses of Congress and signed into law by October 31, 2009. The language will eliminate or severely restrict the ability of marketers to send unsolicited commercial SMS or text messages to mobile phones. However, some limited exceptions -- such as messages from companies that have existing relationships with consumers or nonprofit organizations -- may be written into the bill.

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