tatango

Text Message Spam

I wanted to link to a post a couple of days back on Textually. This blog is the entry point of three weblogs devoted to cell phones and mobile content, focusing on text messaging and cell phone usage around the world, tracking the latest news and social impact of these new technologies. I’ve embedded the post below.

“Disgruntled T-Mobile USA customers can move forward with their lawsuit against the wireless carrier over unsolicited text messages, under a federal court ruling earlier this week. [via Seattle Post Intelligencer]

“Marco Zaldivar, a T-Mobile subscriber, filed a lawsuit on behalf of himself and others in U.S. District Court in Seattle in October saying customers had no way to disable their cell phones from receiving text messages, forcing them to pay 10 to 15 cents for each one. Federal judge Richard Jones on Tuesday denied T-Mobile’s motion to dismiss the case.”

The reason why I am pointing this out is to make it clear that text message SPAM is a real issue! Tatango has implemented very strict policies that make sure that it’s users are safe and protected. In addition to our strict policies, Tatango abides by all MMA, carrier and FCC regulations/guidelines. Below you will find some of the steps that Tatango has taken to fight text message SPAM and we encourage other group text messaging websites to follow our lead…

* A True Opt-In System - Both the MMA and carriers have made it very clear that any website that allows the ability for someone to send an unsolicited text message, this includes an invitation to join a group or a message on how to opt out if they wish to not join a group, is strictly prohibited. By carrier definition, the only way not to send a unsolicited text message is by having a user join through a website widget/form (which must have a double opt-in method - more about this later) or through a keyword, which allows that user to join a group directly from their own mobile phone by texting a specific word to a short code number.

* Restricting Number Portability - Users feel safe joining groups through Tatango because we as a company take every precaution to make sure their phone number will never be misused. One commonly seen misuse of users privacy on other websites, is the transferring or selling of a users mobile phone number by the group administrator without that users permission. To protect our users, Tatango does not expose a users entire phone number to a group administrator, rather we give the group administrator enough to identify that user by displaying phone numbers as such; 206.XXX.4012

* Double Opt-In Widgets - Tatango widgets allow a group administrator the ability to have members of their group, join a group from a third party website such as a blog, personal website or social network such as MySpace. To ensure that the person joining a group from a widget is actually the person who owns the mobile phone, Tatango has developed a double opt-in system for its widgets. This means that the user joining a group will enter their mobile phone number into the widget and to verify they are the actual owner of that mobile phone, they will then receive a text message with a pin with which they will have to enter back into the widget.

As you are able to see, Tatango has taken steps to make sure that groups using our website are in compliance with all rules and that users joining groups can be assured that their phone number will stay safe and private. This is why Tatango has, and will remain the leader in mobile group communication and an active fighter of text message spam.