Consumer and public advocacy groups are urging the Federal Communications Commission to declare that text messages deserve the same nondiscriminatory treatment by telephone carriers as e-mail and voice messages.

In a petition filed with the FCC on Dec. 11, the groups claim: "Mobile carriers currently can and do arbitrarily decide what customers to serve and which speech to allow on text messages, refusing to serve those that they find controversial or that compete with the mobile carriers' services."

In September, Verizon Wireless was caught blocking text messages from the pro-abortion group NARAL Pro-Choice America. Blaming the initial decision to block the messages on an "incorrect interpretation" of company policy, the nation's second largest wireless carrier quickly reversed its decision.

"This type of discrimination would be unthinkable and illegal in the world of voice communications, and it should be so in the world of text messaging as well," the Dec. 11 petition states.

The petition asks the FCC to act immediately to declare that text messaging services, including those sent to and from short codes, are governed by the anti-discrimination provisions of the Communications Act. According to the petition, "The Commission should make it explicit that these discriminatory actions will not be tolerated in the future." ...

In addition to Public Knowledge and Free Press, other groups signing the petition include the Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, EDUCAUSE, Media Access Project, New America Foundation and U.S. PIRG. ...

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