By Seth Williams, CommLawBlog, January 11, 2019
On December 12, the Federal Communications Commission's ("FCC" or "Commission") three Republican Commissioners were in a self-congratulatory mood for standing with consumers against unwanted robotexts by classifying text messaging as a Title I service, but did the Commission's classification decision really mark a major TCPA victory for consumers? Probably not. As Sekoia Rogers detailed on CommLawBlog, the FCC's decision clarifies the regulatory classification of SMS and MMS messages under Title I of the Communications Act. Yet, instead of focusing on the legal or policy rationales for its classification decision the FCC chose to focus on the TCPA benefits of treating text messages as a Title I information service. So what does the Commission's decision accomplish from a TCPA standpoint?
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Neal McLain Brazoria, Texas