Link: SMS spammer hit with $200,000 fine - vnunet.com
Verizon
Wireless has won a legal case against a SMS spammer who sent out 100,000 messages via its network.Specialized Programming and Marketing, and its owner Charles Henderson, were accused of sending 100,000 text messages to Verizon subscribers offering a prize of a cruise in the Bahamas on behalf of Passport Holidays.
Verizon promptly sued under the US Federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act, and the fine imposed will be not less than $200,000.
I’d like to see some UK operators doing that sort of thing 
Well, I’d have liked to have seen it. SMS spam — is it much of a nuisance any more in the UK?
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MaManfie on 
Comment by njar on 1 March 2007:
Lets not forget that In the US all terminating SMS charge the end user. Each of these users would have been billed. Wholesale SMS can be sent vcheaply (or free).
Additionally the carriers insist on knowing about *all* commercial SMS services (including marketing etc), and this is why all services have to run in conjunction with a shortcode. If this service went through a registered US aggregator they would almost certainly have been liable (or certainly liable to have their connection cut off.
Much less of an issue in the UK, for several reasons. Essentially base cost of SMS has gone up to a level that will put off the low level spam. Additionally a combination of user awareness, direct marketing laws, and carrier/regulatory clamp downs means that very very little unsolicited SMS is sent in the UK these days. Of course that doesn’t stop everyone, but ultimately the origin of SMS campaigns is invariably trackable since they’ll be advertising a premium service or a product/service.
Comment by Alastair Shortland on 1 March 2007:
I get about 1-2 spams every few months… certainly nothing to worry about - and they are very obviously “spammy” so get deleted instantly.
The great thing about SMS (compared to email) is that someone has to foot the bill, and it is therefore in the senders interest to ensure the list is high quality opt-in data. That’s why we offer free inbound numbers to all business customers so that they can grow their list of opt-in customers eager to receive their promotions. This is very effective.
I am happy that this fine has occurred… in order to succeed we need the SMS industry to remain clean and spam free!
Alastair Shortland
CEO
txtlocal.com