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Court Bans Cell Phone Spammer

August 31, 2004

Text Spam • Illinois Sues Text-Message Spammers • Arizona Court Rules Against Unwanted Text Messaging • Cell Spam On the Rise • Court Bans Cell Phone Spammer

Verizon Wireless has won an injunction against a Rhode Island cell phone spammer, the latest effort in its campaign to protect wireless users' privacy.

The company said Jacob Brown knowingly executed a systematic spam attack on wireless phones owned by Verizon Wireless customers. U.S. District Court Judge Mary L. Cooper issued the injunction, which bars Brown from sending further spam to Verizon Wireless customers.

Brown sent short text messsages offering mortgage loans and directing Verizon customers to adult Web sites. Some of the messages "spoofed" -- or impersonated -- legitimate Web sites and businesses, court testimony indicated.

It's the latest of several court actions Verizon Wireless has taken against cell spammers. Last year, the company filed two suits against wireless spammers in Georgia and won injunctions against them.

Verizon Wireless has been much more aggressive in fighting cell spam than other carriers and is believed to be the only company that has sued the spammers in federal court.

The company is also declining to participate with other carriers in a wireless phone directory, fearing that cell phone listings would undermine caller privacy and open cell phone customers to telemarketers.

"Why would we want to tear down a wall of privacy that we spent two decades fortifying?" company CEO Denny Strigl asked at a recent Wireless Leadership Summit in New York. "Today, wireless users view cell phones as one place they don't face intrusions from telemarketers and other unwanted, unsolicited calls and messages."

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