Friday, March 14, 2008

There is one partial solution to the problem described in the March 10 front-page article "Advertising Sent to Cellphones Opens New Front in War on Spam": Allow customers to opt out of all text messaging. Not all of us use our cellphones as general communication devices; some people are satisfied to let a phone be just a phone.

I know more than 25 people who have asked their wireless providers to disable text messaging for their accounts, only to be told that it could not be done, which I doubt. A more likely explanation is that these companies like getting paid for mistaken text messages.

The companies should voluntarily institute an opt-out policy or, loath as I am to suggest a new law, Congress should require that they do so, with hefty fines for noncompliance.

There is also a more technologically complex solution to this problem. Instead of making recipients pay for the text messages, make the sender pay for them. Yes, it would cost banks, travel firms and other businesses that text useful information, but they could pass those charges on to their customers.

DAVID S. SCHWARTZMAN

Rockville