The FCC's plan to fight spam messages could give phone companies more power over email

The FCC today unveiled two proposals to combat the scourge of telephone spam, even if at least one of these actions is likely to cause controversy.

In its announcement, the agency announced its intention to officially classify text messaging as an information service, a legal distinction that would be essential to combat spam messages. The classification, said the agency, will allow phone operators to continue to use blocking technology to prevent spam from reaching phones.

But some consumer advocates have asked the FCC to classify messaging as a telecommunications service. Without this classification, groups like Public Knowledge have argued that the telephone companies would be able to discriminate messages, deciding when and how to send texts in ways that harm consumers and freedom of expression.

Public Knowledge has reported controversial blocking decisions, such as Verizon's 2007 decision to block the texts of an abortion rights group. Twilio, a company that manufactures software for text messaging services, made a similar argument, while the telephone companies claimed that the classification would hinder their ability to fight spam. The debate echoes the fight for net neutrality, when the FCC decided to reclassify the Internet as an information service, thus ending the protections of net neutrality.

The decision to classify messages has been pending for years, but the FCC said today that mobile operators are already applying filtering, and its decision "will maintain and strengthen the legal basis for this user-friendly filtering."

In a statement, Public Knowledge slammed the move. "It would not be the holiday season without President Pai offering a large basket of gifts to particular commercial interests at the expense of US consumers," said Harold Feld, Senior Vice President of Public Knowledge. "President Pai proposes to respond to the request of the wireless telecommunications industry to categorize text messages in the" Information Services "category of Title I, thereby removing the vital protections of consumers."

The FCC has also announced its intention to create a database of reassigned phone numbers. According to the agency, such a database would give businesses the opportunity to check if a number has a new owner before they call. Both proposals will be submitted to a vote at a meeting of the CCF in December.

"Combating automated calling is our number one priority in consumer protection, and these proposals are a significant step forward in this effort," FCC President Ajit Pai said in a statement. "Today, I call on the FCC to take additional measures to combat these calls and to prevent a flood of spam robots robots from fouling US phones."