Stephen King Horror Story: Simon & Schuster Text-Messaging Case Sent Back To Lower Court
Simon & Schuster, the book publishing company owned by CBS (NYSE: CBS) Corporation, may have to pay as much as $90 million in fines over a Stephen King book promo, according to a new appeals-court ruling. The case stems from a promotional campaign for Stephen King
That a text message is a call is a bit tenuous, but that has been established in the past. This decision has a much larger problem. The court is saying that any computer capable of generating a list of random numbers (thus every computer, even your cell phone) is an auto dialer if it is sending out text messages. This is absurd, and it could cripple the legitimate participants in the mobile marketing industry.
Please see http://www.mobileac.org
S&S didn't follow MMA best practices and this is what happens. But that is not the problem here. The court is saying that any computer capable of generating a list of random numbers (thus every computer, even your cell phone) is an auto dialer if it is sending out text messages. This is absurd, and it could cripple the legitimate participants in the mobile marketing industry.
The industry is coming together to protect itself from this troubling interpretation of the law. Please see http://www.mobileac.org