COMMENTS
OF
PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE, FREE PRESS,
CONSUMER FEDERATION OF AMERICA, CONSUMERS UNION, EDUCAUSE,
MEDIA ACCESS PROJECT, NEW AMERICA FOUNDATION, U.S. PIRG,
ASSEMBLYMAN RICHARD L. BRODSKY, CREDO MOBILE, INC.

Public Knowledge et al. applaud the Commission’s decision to seek public comment on the December 11, 2007 Petition (“the Petition”) filed by Public Knowledge and a coalition of concerned public interest organizations, short code service providers, and legislators, in which we described how mobile carriers are engaging in unjust and unreasonable discrimination in text messaging services, as well as how this discrimination violates both the law and Commission policy.

Text messaging is a critical new medium for speech whose growth is far outpacing mobile voice calling. Mobile carriers cannot be allowed to leverage their license to use the public’s airwaves in order to control who may say what to whom. These carriers have demonstrated that, given the chance, they will interfere with speech, and in fact continue to do exactly that to this day.

In these comments, we will briefly highlight the point that text messaging services that use short codes, like those that use traditional 10-digit phone numbers, are common carrier services governed by Title II, and further develop the policy justifications for applying nondiscrimination rules to text messaging through Title I and Title III. We also reiterate our request that the commission declare that text messaging services are subject to the section 202 prohibition against “unjust and unreasonable discrimination,” regardless of whether they are addressed using 10-digit phone numbers or short codes.