text message campaigns

United States Carrier Verizon reverses Refusal of Abortion Rights Text Messages

Posted by KatrinVerclas on Sep 27, 2007

In a quick move, the US carrier Verizon today reversed its refusal to issue a short code to abortion rights advocacy organization NARAL. According to a statement by Verizon:

"The decision to not allow text messaging on an important, though sensitive, public policy issue was incorrect, and we have fixed the process that led to this isolated incident. Upon learning about this situation, senior Verizon Wireless executives immediately reviewed the decision and determined it was an incorrect interpretation of a dusty internal policy. That policy, developed before text messaging protections such as spam filters adequately protected customers from unwanted messages, was designed to ward against communications such as anonymous hate messaging and adult materials sent to children.

"Verizon Wireless is proud to provide services such as text messaging, which are being harnessed by organizations and individuals communicating their diverse opinions about issues and topics. We have
great respect for this free flow of ideas and will continue to protect the ability to communicate broadly through our messaging service."