Posted on 11/24/2005 11:35:29 PM PST by nickcarraway
NEW YORK, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Verizon Wireless said on Wednesday it has filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction against a Florida firm that it charges with sending thousands of unsolicited text messages to Verizon customers' mobile phones.
The wireless venture of Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said it filed the suit in U.S. District Court in New Jersey after 98,000 spam messages were sent on behalf of Ormond Beach, Florida, firm Passport Holidays telling Verizon customers they had won cruises to the Bahamas.
While there have been relatively few cases of illegal spamming to mobile phones in the U.S., all of U.S. wireless operators are being more vigilant about such incidents, which could cost users and carriers dearly, said Ovum analyst Roger Entner.
Verizon Wireless, which has already filed several privacy-related lawsuits this year, accused Passport of illegally using automatic dialing equipment to send large numbers of spam text messages to sequential phone numbers in a short space of time.
The No. 2 U.S. mobile service, which had 49.3 million customers at the end of the third quarter, said the defendants, which also include "currently unknown individuals," had also tried to avoid Verizon's spam filters and hide their identities.
About a quarter of the messages appeared to have been sent automatically to customers with sequential phone numbers, Verizon Wireless spokesman Tom Pica said.
But Verizon is still trying to find out how the other phone numbers were exposed.
"One of the reasons we file these suits is not only to stop these people but to find out how they do it," said Pica, who added that the company is also looking at other cases concerning customer privacy.
Entner said wireless operators need to be even more careful than Internet service providers because the stakes are higher.
"While it is very annoying to get spam in your e-mail account, it doesn't cost you anything, whereas on a wireless phone it costs you up to 10 cents a message," Entner said.
Even if Verizon received messaging fees from each of the 98,000 customers who was spammed, it could have lost anywhere between $500,000 and $1 million if each one had called customer service to complain, said Entner, who assumes such calls cost the company between $5 and $8 on average.
Entner said that such cases are minimized because virtually every U.S. state has anti-spam laws.
"In the few cases where somebody is stupid enough to do it, at least the carriers are stepping up to the plate," he said.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
Bravo for Verizon.
L
I've got VerIzon, Been with them since they were GTE, sooo many years i won't switch anytime soon, i like their reception (too good, i have to turn my phone off if i don't want to be reached, no excuses to say no reception unless i'm in the wooooods).
The other thing i like is they really been protecting customer information and this is a good example ontop of their keeping out of any kind of "cell phone directory", plus their customer service has always been good to me.
I wish more corporations would protect my info like they do. I once tried to subscribe to Robb Report, what a bunch of little whores they are, they sold my info to almost anyone they could to send me unsolicited mail to my post office box. I cancelled my subscription right away, they wouldn't be seeing any money from me.
I volunteer to insert all sorts of sharp, jagged objects into the ends of those sticks.
They charge for incoming messages?
Simple solution: calling party pays....
We have a few 'chatterboxes' in the bunch that would have run up an astronomic bill were it otherwise.
T-Mobile (and I believe Sprint) do not charge for incoming text messages. Verizon might have different deals for pre-paid vs contracts or somesuch, or maybe somebody just goofed up at the microphone.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.