In less than a month, it will be illegal to send commercial messages to any Internet domain associated with wireless messaging subscription services.The ban is the result of rules adopted by the Federal . . .
In less than a month, it will be illegal to send commercial messages to any Internet domain associated with wireless messaging subscription services.

The ban is the result of rules adopted by the Federal Communications Commission in August to implement the Can-Spam Act. The commission's goal is to protect consumers from spam on their wireless phones and pagers. With the exception of a few provisions that require approval from the Office of Management and Budget, the rules will become law Oct. 18.

To assist marketers in determining where they can send spam, the FCC is creating a public list of domains used for mobile-service messaging. Individual addresses in those domains won't be listed.

"I think the FCC ruling is a great step in the right direction," says Alex Campbell, CEO of Vibes Media, a text-messaging marketing company. "There are people out there who will look at cell phones and say, 'there are 169 million of them out in the U.S. What if I build this program on my PC that sends an E-mail to your phone number and let it run?' It'll stop that, as well it should."

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