Wired Wisconsin provides input on text messaging as a prohibited cell phone solicitation

MILWAUKEE – Wired Wisconsin has provided written comment in response to a call from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection regarding the proposed rule to add in text messaging to the list of prohibited telephone solicitations.

“The addition of prohibiting text messaging for those on the no call list is good for consumers,” wrote Thad Nation, executive director of Wired Wisconsin. “Those who sign up for the list are doing so to eliminate unsolicited offers. As more and more consumers switch to mobile devices, business and individuals have found a way around the no call list through text messaging.”

Wired Wisconsin lobbied the Wisconsin Legislature last session on SB 185 and/or AB 250, which was passed into law as 2011 Wisconsin Act 197. This act expanded Wisconsin’s No Call program to include text messaging.

Nation added that the revision of the state’s administrative rules to be in compliance with state statute will ensure that consumers only receive offers for goods, services and products they have requested.

The proposed changes to the state’s administrative code include inserting definitions for “caller identification information” and “caller identification service.” The changes also create a new prohibition against telephone solicitors transmitting misleading or inaccurate caller identification information, also known as “spoofing.” Additionally, for the purposes of the no call list, the administrative code will also clarify that the definition of “telephone solicitation” will include text messages, and for the first time, creates a definition of a “text message.”

The DATCP is holding a public hearing on this issue on September 27 to bring the state’s administrative code in compliance with Act 197.

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