Updated Feb 7, 2013 - 2:04 pm
Arizona House panel OKs ban on spam text messages
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PHOENIX -- An Arizona House committee has passed a bill that would ban unsolicited spamlike text messages that seek to get a person to buy goods or services.
The bill sponsored by Rep. Eddie Farnsworth is aimed at companies that inundate multiple phone numbers with texts. Many of those are for adult services and Stevens himself said he recently got an unsolicited text along those lines.
Technology committee chairman Rep. David Stevens of Sierra Vista said he recently got an unsolicited text along those lines. Stevens describes the ban as a form of the `do not call' list for regular phones. A violation would be a misdemeanor.
A lobbyist for cellphone carrier T-Mobile testified Thursday against the bill, saying it doesn't contain an exemption for companies who can show someone signed up for texts. He also said a federal ban comes into play later this year.
