Contact:
Newsfox Desk
Phone: + 43 - 1 - 811 40 - 319
E-Mail: editor@newsfox.com
| Pressbox | 
|
Berlin (pte033/06.03.2003/14:16) - A German court has placed a ban on unsolicited SMS-advertising. According to the Berlin regional court, sending SMS ads violates the recipient's personal rights and should be subject to the same laws as unsolicited e-mail advertising.
In the case described by the German professional journal JurPC http://www.jurpc.de/rechtspr/20030078.htm , the plaintiff had given his mobile phone number to a web portal for regular "SMS votings". After a short time, he began receiving SMS ads for "Fish and Chips" from an unknown sender. The mobile phone user then sued the company that had commissioned the ad, as well as the Internet portal that had passed on his number without his consent.
The accused companies tried to argue that SMS ads fell into the same category as permissible mail advertising, but the court rejected each of their cases. Instead, it came to the conclusion that SMS advertising was subject to the same legal constrictions as telephone marketing or e-mail advertising, and that the undesired advertising news violate the recipients' personal rights.
Justified cause for complaint was that the ad makes a noise when it enters the user's mailbox, takes up space in the phone's limited storage capacity, and does not reveal who the sender is.
(end)
|
|
