Posted: September 27, 2007

Saying it had the right to block “controversial or unsavory” text messages, Verizon Wireless last week rejected a request from Naral Pro-Choice America, the abortion rights group, to make Verizon’s mobile network available for a text-message program.

But the company reversed course this morning, saying it had made a mistake.

“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,” Jeffrey Nelson, a company spokesman, said in a statement.

“It was an incorrect interpretation of a dusty internal policy,” Mr. Nelson said. “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.”

The other leading wireless carriers had accepted the Naral program, but legal experts said private companies like Verizon probably have the legal right to decide which messages to carry. The laws that forbid common carriers from interfering with voice transmissions on ordinary phone lines do not apply to text messages.

“This is right at the heart of the problem,” said Susan Crawford, a visiting professor at thelaw school, referring to the treatment of text messages. “The fact that wireless companies can choose to discriminate is very troubling.”

Nancy Keenan, Naral’s president, said Verizon’s initial decision interfered with political speech and activism.

“No company should be allowed to censor the message we want to send to people who have asked us to send it to them,” Ms. Keenan said. “Regardless of people’s political views, Verizon customers should decide what action to take on their phones. Why does Verizon get to make that choice for them?”

Text messaging programs based on five- and six-digit short codes are a popular way to receive updates on news, sports, weather and entertainment. Several of the leading Democratic presidential candidates have used them, as have the Republican National Committee, Save Darfur and Amnesty International.

Texting has proved to be an extraordinarily effective political tool. According to a study released this month by researchers at Princeton and the University of Michigan, young people who received text messages reminding them to vote in November 2006 were more likely to go to the polls. 59% said that the text reminder was beneficial and voter turnout increased by 4% within the test group. The cost per vote generated, the study said, was much smaller than other sorts of get-out-the-vote efforts.

Texting has become one of the easiest and most cost effective ways of reaching large groups of people while simultaneously being able to track the success of individual campaigns. The popularity of SMS has caused even the biggest carriers to limit their interference when it comes to content, and if the current trends continue, that interference will soon disappear. The cost per consumer has become significantly less than traditional marketing methods, and the use of trackable codes has resulted in a level of transparency and accountability that wasn’t possible before. Thus, a well-planned mobile marketing campaign is one of the most efficient and least risky strategies currently available to companies both large and small.

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