Its funny.
If you study history deeply enough, you’ll learn that morality is almost completely relative.
Anything you can think of (no matter how vile by today’s standards) has been permitted/encouraged/justified by some people somewhere at some time throughout history it seems except for one thing– hypocrisy.
Holding yourself to the same standards you would apply to others is the only actual “golden rule” it would seem. And it looks like CTIA just broke it.
So the Wireless Association–which calls itself CTIA for some reason– publishes a set of “guidelines” for communications to cell phones that it claims nobody is actually required to follow yet every carrier and aggregator requires people to follow.
But in true “do as I say not as I do” fashion CTIA is claiming that its own members– the wireless carriers themselves– don’t have to follow any of those rules at all.
Indeed, in a new filing made by CTIA to the FCC as part of the “Delete, Delete, Delete” proceeding the CTIA urges the FCC to close a proceeding that would require wireless carriers to have consent to contact consumers.
In the CTIA’s mind requiring wireless carriers to have consent before texting consumers would be “UNNECESSARY, OVERLY COMPLEX, OR EXCEED FCC AUTHORITY.”
Instead, it urges the Commission to “exclud[e] calls and texts from wireless providers to their subscribers” from TCPA coverage. Indeed, applying the TCPA to by wireless carriers “would risk harming consumers” the CTIA claims.
Hmmm……
So, preventing wireless carriers from spamming consumers causes “harm” but blocking urgent, consented, informational messages consumers actually asked for– which the CTIA guidelines and carrier terms of use call for– is totally cool?
Ridiculous.
The wireless carriers are trying to right themselves a blank check to spam people while holding speech by American business hostage to an outright censorship regime.
Just gross folks.
Hopefully the Commission acts promptly to ban carrier call blocking of lawful traffic as R.E.A.C.H. requests and hopefully the FCC also APPLY THE TCPA TO WIRELESS CARRIERS so we can stop a MAJOR source of spam calls and messages.