AT&T Text Spams Customers Promoting American Idol; Insists It's Not Spam
from the redefining-spam dept
For the most part, mobile operators have been good about trying to prevent SMS text spam, but it appears that AT&T has gone in the other direction. It's actually spamming people. Apparently it sent a text message promoting the TV show American Idol to anyone who had voted in past American Idol contests or anyone that AT&T considered to be a "heavy texter." I can almost (but not quite) understand contacting former voters. But randomly targeting other "heavy texters" is simply pure spam.But that's not the way AT&T sees it. In a statement that entirely redefines spam, a spokesperson said that it wasn't spam because they didn't charge people to receive the message. He also claimed it was no problem because people could opt-out of future messages. This shows an incredible (but all too typical for AT&T) tone deafness to the issue. Email spam is already quite annoying. But text messaging spam takes it to an entirely more ridiculous level by proactively interrupting what a person is doing, no matter where they are. At least email spam can be compartmentalized to when you're actually checking your email (and, these days, can be pretty effectively filtered). Text messaging is a lot more intrusive, and for AT&T to claim that this is somehow "okay" because the TV show is "built on texting," is simply ridiculous.
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Filed Under: american idol, sms, spam, text messages
Companies: at&t
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Perhaps I've managed to dodge a bullet?
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Re:
love,
att
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Texting: The "new" internet.
Opt out? Sure, if you turn off all text messaging capabilities.
Once again, I've given a chance to a "new" company only to get screwed over.
Here, AT&T. Let me bend over for you so it's easier to extract your payment, loaded with over $12 of inexcusable fees.
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That's actually not true. I have no text plan and they spammed me too.
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Even if you opt out of all txting
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Me too
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Huh
Maybe they figured that only pissing off semi/famous people would work for them somehow? I dunno.
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I received one of those unsolicited text spams today on my AT&T phone. If AT&T would like to propose that they are not charging me for their advertisements, I would like to propose they offer me my cellular service for free. I'm not charging THEM for my use of MY phone, either. I just might, however.
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spam
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AT&T
I get spammed by AT&T on a regular basis.
BTW AT&T, Email spam is also free, but that doesn't mean we like it.
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Liars
I was annoyed, and did not see how to opt out of it. I pay for the service. If I'm dumb and get my phone on some text-spam list, fine. But the company I pay too much money to every month should absolutely not be inflicting this on my unsubsidized phone.
And then they have the nerve to outright lie about it.
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no charge = not spam?
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Re: no charge = not spam?
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Sprint SPAMS also
But you would think that Sprint's system would be smart enough to know that you can't get Sprint TV without a multimedia phone first, but I get those messages too. Um, hello Sprint! DUH! You can't get TV on a non-multimedia phone! It's just a phone with internet capabilities and some text messages included.
But, since they offer a link in the message to "unsubscribe" to those messages, I click the link to do so, THEN I get another message back in a few minutes asking if I REALLY want to not get these type of messages again. (so to speak) Well, YEAH! I clicked the link in the message. DUH! THEN I get yet another message from them just to let me know that I won't be getting these type of messages anymore. Thank GOD, because I'm ready to throw the phone against the sidewalk just to shut it up from ringing several times just so I can read their spam.
Don't feel bad AT&T people. We (at other carriers) are getting spam too, it's just in other forms.
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Re: Sprint SPAMS also
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ATT Horse Hockey
It's ok because you are not charged for it.
That is the lamest excuse yet this year.
How about I sent their board of directors a box full of horse shit - it would be ok because I did not charge them for it.
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Re: ATT Horse Hockey
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horse feces?
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Big boys and Girls control our spam
The people that control your money and print it also want to control your spam. Notice how Microsoft and yahoo were the big players to get rid of spam. Then what happened?
Notice how all the big players are all trying to control everything we search and that leads to what we buy.
ATT (I have them), will not stop their spam. See, its their ball park and they only want you to buy what they profit on.
This is a little abstract but not far from the truth.
Wasn't the internet supposed to be FREE? ITs all about taking your money. The big players are trying to control the whole battle field. ATT, yahoo, google, and microsoft - all them are like "appointed" to be the spam police. Instead what happened- is they decided only they can spam you. I spent almost a year asking them to stop calling me, sending me email trying to sell me. The emails never stopped. They tried to tell me that they can- even though I said stop. If I had a choice, I wouldn't use them.
So, its either DSL and spam, or no internet at all here.
The Games over. Now please forward this to the big boys and have them pretend this isn't happening.
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Why take over the world of course Pinky.
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Without explicitly /asking/ for the text, it would be considered spam and should legally be treated as such, same with unsolicited phone calls or faxes.
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Re:
I think you're confusing "over-looked" with "rejected" (by AT&T and others).
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Opting out
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att own spam
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I understand your point, and I am glad I didn't get one, but you can probably understand why they did this.
And is texting all that disruptive to your life, really? You kind of play it up as being very obtrusive in your article - come on, it's a text, it's clearly not something that is obtrusive since texts are sent and received during meetings and classes - how can it be obtrusive if texts can be sent and received unbeknownst to those around?
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I understand your point, and I am glad I didn't get one, but you can probably understand why they did this.
And is texting all that disruptive to your life, really? You kind of play it up as being very obtrusive in your article - come on, it's a text, it's clearly not something that is obtrusive since texts are sent and received during meetings and classes - how can it be obtrusive if texts can be sent and received unbeknownst to those around?
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REALLY?!?
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the internet was NEVER about free, how do you think you get on the internet, you have to pay or connect to someone who has paid, to infrastructure that has to be paid for and paid to maintain it, so you can get on the net and get "Free" things, lol, what utopia you must live in, where everything is free
QQ
cry more
your tears fuel me
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