SMS Spam Epidemic (NYT Article)

[mkrishnan]

Spam Moves to Cellphones and Gets More Invasive

If you thought spam on your computer was a bother, brace yourself: spammers want to find you on your cellphone.

Cellphones have become consumers’ most personal technological devices. Some industry executives, along with consumer groups and security experts, are concerned that unwanted text messages on phones will be an even greater headache than unwanted computer messages.

Cellphone spam is particularly annoying to its recipients because it is more invasive — announcing itself with a beep — and can be costly.

This statement really stood out at me:

The carriers regularly adjust spam filters to block offending messages. At Sprint, more than 65 percent of all text messages sent over its network are identified and blocked as spam before they reach customers.

The volume of spam on the SMS network that is blocked at the server level and never appears to customers is much higher than I thought!

The amount of spam I actually receive in my SMS inbox seems to be about 1-2 per month on average. Although perhaps it is seasonal -- I haven't gotten any that I can recall since I got my iPhone, on the same account as my Blackberry, and I had definitely been receiving a few every month when I had my BB.... Neither device has a spam filter, as far as I can tell, at the client level. Perhaps the Blackberry's BIS bypassed T-Mobile's corporate spamblocker and used less aggressive settings?

 

[xoox]

wow..1.5 billion SMS spams in 2008..

The future sure looks hopeless!

 

[ravenvii]

wow..1.5 billion SMS spams in 2008..

The future sure looks hopeless!

Unless the gov't cracks down on spam and makes it a bona fide crime.

 

[mkrishnan]

Yeah, even if SMS becomes cheaper / most plans come to have large numbers bundled in, I just don't want to be harassed on my cell. I remember the days when I had a landline and annoying people would call me all the time and bug me to buy things. Not on my cell. Never again....