Link: Facebook sued for mis-sending dirty texts | The Register
News in from the legal trigger-happy land of the free (via The Register) – Facebook is being sued by an Indiana woman for sending ‘adult content’ via text.
Earlier this week, an Indiana mommy named Lindsey Abrams filed a federal class action suit against the Microsoft-propped social networking site. She’s claiming that it sends thousands of unauthorized text messages to innocent bystanders across the country – and that many of these messages contain “adult content”.
The whole thing seems to come down to a single problem: number recycling. Facebook allows you to sign up with your mobile to receive text alerts when people send you messages, and charges you for each message received. So far, so good. The problem is that they have no idea if you’re still using that number – so it’s possible that, due to the mobile operators number recycling policy, you can end up with the number of someone already registered on Facebook when you take out a new contract.
El Reg cites Santa Clara University law professor and tech law blogger Eric Goldman, who reckons the action will be dismissed under the US Communications Decency Act.
“[The act] states that websites are not liable for what their users say or do,” he told the The Reg. “User provide the telephone numbers. Users provide the messages being sent. And Facebook just forwards them. It may be annoying to get a message that isn’t directed to you, but Facebook isn’t to blame – just you can’t blame the telephone company when someone makes a crank call.”
Companies distributing mobile content should have access to the disconnect lists from the major carriers through their aggregators. We would recommend treating this scenario like a mobile subscription and requiring a periodic opt-in (or an opt-out…) message so the receiver can confirm they are the intended receiver and are still interested. The number of outbound messages can also be throttled by the publisher or software provider to a reasonable number to avoid spamming.
Some may attempt to bypass the “right way” to distribute mobile content via the carriers’ e-mail-to-SMS gateways, but companies following best practices in the industry can easily avoid situations like this one. You can find best practices guidelines online from the Mobile Marketing Association and CTIA.
Matt Silk
msilk@waterfallmobile.com