{
  "id": "RL34632",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL34632",
  "active": false,
  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
  "versions": [
    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 414943,
      "date": "2012-01-12",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T00:19:07.597357",
      "title": "Text and Multimedia Messaging: Issues for Congress",
      "summary": "The first text messages were sent during 1992 and 1993, although commercially, text messaging was not widely offered or used until 2000. Even then, messages could only be sent between users subscribed to the same wireless carrier; for example, Sprint customers could only exchange messages with other Sprint customers. In November 2001, however, wireless service providers began to connect their networks for text messaging, allowing subscribers on different networks to exchange text messages. Since then, the number of text messages in the United States has grown to over 48 billion messages every month. Additionally, text messages are no longer only sent as \u201cpoint-to-point\u201d communications between two mobile device users. More specifically, messages are also commonly sent from web-based applications within a web browser (e.g., from an Internet e-mail address) and from instant messaging clients like AIM or MSN.\nFor congressional policymakers, two major categories of issues have arisen: (1) \u201csame problem, different platform\u201d and (2) issues stemming from the difficulty in applying existing technical definitions to a new service, such as whether a text message is sent \u201cphone-to-phone\u201d or using the phone\u2019s associated email address. There are numerous examples of each. An example of the first category would be consumer fraud and children\u2019s accessing inappropriate content, which have existed previously in the \u201cwired world,\u201d but have now found their way to the \u201cwireless world.\u201d An example of the second category would be that spam sent between two phones or from one phone to many phones does not fall under the definition of spam in the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act, P.L. 108-187); however, if that same message were to be sent from a phone or computer using the phone\u2019s associated e-mail address, it would. \nThe increasing use of text and multimedia messaging has raised several policy issues: distracted driving, SMS spam, the inability of consumers to disable text messaging, text messaging price fixing, carrier blocking of common short code messages, deceptive and misleading common short code programs, protecting children from inappropriate content on wireless devices, \u201csexting,\u201d mobile cyberbullying, privacy of text messages, and using SMS to support law enforcement and emergency response.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "encoding": "utf-8",
          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/RL34632",
          "sha1": "35f6c9da9c0b9b7a7025c886c55e4cbc11206ccc",
          "filename": "files/20120112_RL34632_35f6c9da9c0b9b7a7025c886c55e4cbc11206ccc.html",
          "images": null
        },
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "encoding": null,
          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL34632",
          "sha1": "925a433eab18ce7e66b28ae39e3de65b9d833762",
          "filename": "files/20120112_RL34632_925a433eab18ce7e66b28ae39e3de65b9d833762.pdf",
          "images": null
        }
      ],
      "topics": []
    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc84089/",
      "id": "RL34632_2011Jun22",
      "date": "2011-06-22",
      "retrieved": "2012-04-27T15:49:45",
      "title": "Text and Multimedia Messaging: Emerging Issues for Congress",
      "summary": "The increasing use of text and multimedia messaging has raised several policy issues: distracted driving, SMS spam, the inability of consumers to disable text messaging, text messaging price fixing, carrier blocking of common short code messages, deceptive and misleading common short code programs, protecting children from inappropriate content on wireless devices, \"sexting,\" mobile cyberbullying, privacy of text messages, and using SMS to support law enforcement and emergency response.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORT",
      "active": false,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "filename": "files/20110622_RL34632_634c4555929e2de10d2754a527d4ecbb1476b580.pdf"
        },
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "filename": "files/20110622_RL34632_634c4555929e2de10d2754a527d4ecbb1476b580.html"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Text message",
          "name": "Text message"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Privacy text messages",
          "name": "Privacy text messages"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "E-mail",
          "name": "E-mail"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "SMS Messaging",
          "name": "SMS Messaging"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "E-mail SMS messaging",
          "name": "E-mail SMS messaging"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc40237/",
      "id": "RL34632_2011May18",
      "date": "2011-05-18",
      "retrieved": "2011-08-27T10:13:38",
      "title": "Text and Multimedia Messaging: Emerging Issues for Congress",
      "summary": "The increasing use of text and multimedia messaging has raised several policy issues: distracted driving, SMS spam, the inability of consumers to disable text messaging, text messaging price fixing, carrier blocking of common short code messages, deceptive and misleading common short code programs, protecting children from inappropriate content on wireless devices, \"sexting,\" mobile cyberbullying, privacy of text messages, and using SMS to support law enforcement and emergency response.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORT",
      "active": false,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "filename": "files/20110518_RL34632_1d34d1a234a6628e279018232ba05bcc058a8756.pdf"
        },
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "filename": "files/20110518_RL34632_1d34d1a234a6628e279018232ba05bcc058a8756.html"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Text message",
          "name": "Text message"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Privacy text messages",
          "name": "Privacy text messages"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "E-mail",
          "name": "E-mail"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "SMS Messaging",
          "name": "SMS Messaging"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "E-mail SMS messaging",
          "name": "E-mail SMS messaging"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc491640/",
      "id": "RL34632_2010Jul20",
      "date": "2010-07-20",
      "retrieved": "2015-01-27T19:40:46",
      "title": "Text and Multimedia Messaging: Emerging Issues for Congress",
      "summary": "This report covers issues for Congress regarding text and multimedia messaging. The increasing use of text and multimedia messaging has raised several policy issues: distracted driving, SMS spam, the inability of consumers to disable text messaging, text messaging price fixing, carrier blocking of common short code messages, deceptive and misleading common short code programs, protecting children from inappropriate content on wireless devices, \"sexting,\" mobile cyberbullying, privacy of text messages, and using SMS to support law enforcement and emergency response.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORT",
      "active": false,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "filename": "files/20100720_RL34632_513a7a612541b385f674c2269c096bc668d3c948.pdf"
        },
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "filename": "files/20100720_RL34632_513a7a612541b385f674c2269c096bc668d3c948.html"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Text message",
          "name": "Text message"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Privacy text messages",
          "name": "Privacy text messages"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "E-mail",
          "name": "E-mail"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "SMS Messaging",
          "name": "SMS Messaging"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "E-mail SMS messaging",
          "name": "E-mail SMS messaging"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc627167/",
      "id": "RL34632_2009Oct22",
      "date": "2009-10-22",
      "retrieved": "2015-06-15T14:46:40",
      "title": "Text and Multimedia Messaging: Emerging Issues for Congress",
      "summary": "This report covers issues for Congress regarding text and multimedia messaging. The increasing use of text and multimedia messaging has raised several policy issue, such as distracted driving, SMS spam, the inability of consumers to disable text messaging, text messaging price fixing, carrier blocking of common short code messages, deceptive and misleading common short code programs, protecting children from inappropriate content on wireless devices.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORT",
      "active": false,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "filename": "files/20091022_RL34632_f58e90c5a52884e7c088f9fa0057b50941fc8125.pdf"
        },
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "filename": "files/20091022_RL34632_f58e90c5a52884e7c088f9fa0057b50941fc8125.html"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Text message",
          "name": "Text message"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "SMS Messaging",
          "name": "SMS Messaging"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Telecommunication",
          "name": "Telecommunication"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc700606/",
      "id": "RL34632_2009Mar23",
      "date": "2009-03-23",
      "retrieved": "2015-08-27T16:20:31",
      "title": "Text and Multimedia Messaging: Emerging Issues for Congress",
      "summary": "This report covers issues for Congress regarding text and multimedia messaging. The increasing use of text and multimedia messaging has raised several policy issue, such as distracted driving, SMS spam, the inability of consumers to disable text messaging, text messaging price fixing, carrier blocking of common short code messages, deceptive and misleading common short code programs, protecting children from inappropriate content on wireless devices.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORT",
      "active": false,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "filename": "files/20090323_RL34632_9250a81de1d47f5a62fbfddfb3469facab52235b.pdf"
        },
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "filename": "files/20090323_RL34632_9250a81de1d47f5a62fbfddfb3469facab52235b.html"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Text message",
          "name": "Text message"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "SMS Messaging",
          "name": "SMS Messaging"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Telecommunication",
          "name": "Telecommunication"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc700861/",
      "id": "RL34632_2008Oct17",
      "date": "2008-10-17",
      "retrieved": "2015-08-27T16:20:31",
      "title": "Text and Multimedia Messaging: Emerging Issues for Congress",
      "summary": "This report covers issues for Congress regarding text and multimedia messaging. The increasing use of text and multimedia messaging has raised several policy issue, such as distracted driving, SMS spam, the inability of consumers to disable text messaging, text messaging price fixing, carrier blocking of common short code messages, deceptive and misleading common short code programs, protecting children from inappropriate content on wireless devices.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORT",
      "active": false,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "filename": "files/20081017_RL34632_f2dd61cd805e292e7bbebe43f22277b8d5dbbc1f.pdf"
        },
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "filename": "files/20081017_RL34632_f2dd61cd805e292e7bbebe43f22277b8d5dbbc1f.html"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Text message",
          "name": "Text message"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "SMS Messaging",
          "name": "SMS Messaging"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Telecommunication",
          "name": "Telecommunication"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department",
      "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc700779/",
      "id": "RL34632_2008Aug22",
      "date": "2008-08-22",
      "retrieved": "2015-08-27T16:20:31",
      "title": "Text and Multimedia Messaging: Emerging Issues for Congress",
      "summary": "This report covers issues for Congress regarding text and multimedia messaging. The increasing use of text and multimedia messaging has raised several policy issue, such as distracted driving, SMS spam, the inability of consumers to disable text messaging, text messaging price fixing, carrier blocking of common short code messages, deceptive and misleading common short code programs, protecting children from inappropriate content on wireless devices.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORT",
      "active": false,
      "formats": [
        {
          "format": "PDF",
          "filename": "files/20080822_RL34632_aeba1c3345fd9731740d1c61f99bb259f3bbe142.pdf"
        },
        {
          "format": "HTML",
          "filename": "files/20080822_RL34632_aeba1c3345fd9731740d1c61f99bb259f3bbe142.html"
        }
      ],
      "topics": [
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Text message",
          "name": "Text message"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "SMS Messaging",
          "name": "SMS Messaging"
        },
        {
          "source": "LIV",
          "id": "Telecommunication",
          "name": "Telecommunication"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "topics": [
    "American Law"
  ]
}