First there was spam mail, tons of garbage filled our inboxes, so much so that I personally have abandoned numerous email accounts. When I take actions I know will elicit spam I create a new throw-away email account just for that purpose. This an unfortunate development with the ease and price of sending email. It has been a huge bother and folks have taken steps to remedy the situation.
You can report spam, for instance. You can “request” to be taken off lists, but none of it seems to do much good. Marketers who tend to break the rules, just keep breaking them. My favorite of course is the enlarge my penis emails (the marketers do not seem to care that I do not possess one to enlarge).
There are stiff fines for such things and many legitimate businesses have been hampered by CanSpam laws because quite simply they play by the rules, but it hasn’t stopped the spammers.
Now they are crossing another line, one that is not only annoying and occasionally keep email from coming through or cost extra pennies for dial-up internet users. This will cost for the text messages or the minutes and it will be a huge problem soon.
The laws of course are clear. You must be invited to text if you are a business with a marketing message. Don’t forget that. If you want serious problems ignore this and just go-ahead and spam the crap out of your customers. You won’t like the results.
I read an article on this very topic recently because I watch for news of this kind so I can share it with you. I enjoyed what the author said, comparing the spammers of today with the gamblers, harlots, snake oil salesmen and con artists of yesteryear.
And if it hadn’t occurred to you before, to be safe, be sure and consider if a text you received is from someone you know or from a legitimate business you have requested send you text messages (like Redbox! I love getting their freebie movie deals on my phone!) Spammers are bad guys and they know no morals or ethics. They are just as likely phishing, hacking or sending you viruses. Be wise and delete their texts and for goodness sake, don’t go to any links or open anything they attach.