Tricia Duryee
mocoNews.net
Wednesday, October 8, 2008 8:00 PM

On one side, you have wireless carriers concerned about controlling spam, and on the other, you have the first amendment and free speech. Now in the middle is the FCC, which is trying to sort out which argument is more valid. Organizations including Public Knowledge and Free Press, and New York state assemblyman Richard Brodsky, have asked the FCC to consider rejecting the wireless companies' argument that they should be able to turn away text messages in order to control spam, reports MediaPost. In recent filings, they argued: "The provision of short codes is likely to have no effect at all on spam, in part because the provisioning of short codes does not grant any content provider any greater access to wireless consumers than they have today," the organizations wrote in last week's filings.

The filings are part of a case brought last year by Public Knowledge and other groups against Verizon Wireless ( NYSE: VZ), after the carrier prevented the National Abortion Rights Action League Pro-Choice America to send text messages to supporters. Eventually, Verizon changed its mind on the issue, but now advocates are asking the FCC to prevent carriers from shutting off access to text messaging in the future. CTIA came out in defense of the carriers saying that it's not censorship, but a way for them to manage spam.