Should we shoot the messenger?
- December 19, 2007 4:03 PM |
- By Paul Jay
by Paul Jay, CBCNews.ca
On Tuesday social networking site Facebook settled a lawsuit from an Indiana woman over text messages sent to her mobile phone after the initial recipient had given up the phone number.
Lindsey Abrams of Patriot, Ind., had claimed in her suit that she received text messages with explicit comments and other upsetting content - and had to pay 10 cents each time. The messages, she said in her claim, were intended for the person who previously owned the phone number. When the phone carrier "recycled" the number and gave it to her, the messages also came with it.
Facebook settled the suit, paying her legal fees, without admitting to any wrongdoing. As part of the agreement, Facebook said it would adopt new measures to prevent its members from sending text messages to recycled phone numbers and would work with mobile phone carriers to monitor lists of those numbers.
The settlement helps avoid another PR nightmare for Facebook, but it also begs the question: who is actually responsible for Ms. Abrams problem?
Is it the mobile phone carrier that sold her a recycled number? If the messages were part of a pattern of harassment, did the previous mobile phone customer have any obligation to inform either Facebook or the carrier of the problem? Or is this an issue that rightly landed on Facebook's doorstep?
Tell us what you think.
About the Authors
- Tara Kimura
is a multimedia producer for CBCNews.ca.
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Comments (7)
I dont see why Facebook would have to take any flak from this, I would have assumed that the mobile carrier would have nullified the costs of the texts as well as blocked the sender's number.
But that's just my opinion.
It's neither the fault of Facebook or the mobile carrier, nor is it Ms. Abrams' fault. The fault lies with the person who failed to update their cell number on Facebook when he or she gave it up.
This issue should have been dealt with by the mobile phone carrier, by way of refund or issue a new number. I do not understand why Facebook was targeted.
Had similar experience with creditors seeking the previous owner of my recycled number. It took months for me to convince the various companies that I was not he.
i know how that feels. i had a cell phone number for 3 weeks, till i could get it changed. the previous owner of the number was a drug dealer, every morning my voice mail was full of calls looking for crack and pot. i had to get a lawyer to threaten my carrier to nul the cost of the calls. aparently the number was only diconected for 2 days befor they recycled it.
I think that 10 cents/msg is usury. Mobile phone companies are laughing all the way to the bank!
10cents/msg is a ripoff if you're doing mass messaging. On a pay per use basis its a fair price. Consider many carriers offer unlimited text messaging packages, mine for only $10/mth