T-Mobile Settles Text Message Banning Lawsuit

from the and-so-the-rest-of-us-are-left-in-the-dark dept

Mon, Oct 4th 2010 6:47pm — Mike Masnick

So just a short while after so much attention was paid to the question of whether or not it's legal for mobile operators to block text messages that contain content they don't like, the answer is... that we have no legal answer. T-Mobile and EZ Texting have settled their lawsuit without any ruling on the overall issue. Still, this could be good, in that mobile operators must now be aware that even if they do want to block certain messages, they're likely to have to go to court to defend that decision.

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Filed Under: free speech, text messages
Companies: ex texting, t-mobile

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Gary Richey, 4 Oct 2010 @ 8:36pm

Well
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Gary Richey, 4 Oct 2010 @ 8:38pm

Well
This is an interesting one, I hope all those responsible will be held for something and those that are innocent will be given justice.
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out_of_the_blue, 5 Oct 2010 @ 7:20am

We have an answer: T-Mobile caved.
It's a common carrier, and has no right to censor messages (though it might report / help investigate messages that are clearly outside of common law), regardless of "terms of service". Perhaps you wished for an explicit decision; courts are such a crap shoot that I'll take de facto common law principles.
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Ky, 5 Oct 2010 @ 7:55am

retaining the "discretion to require pre-approval for any short-code marketing campaigns run on its network"

is far from blocking text messages they dont like. Way to not mention short codes or how they are bound to their carrier. This more akin to blocking a "just dial bakedd (with two Ds for the double dose!) on your verizon phone" advertisement.
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