 - SMS spam (sometimes called cell phone spam) is any junk message delivered to a mobile phone as text messaging through the Short Message Service (SMS). The practice is fairly new to North America, but has been common in Japan for years. In 2001-2002, the systems at DoCoMo, the country's major service provider, were overcome by the volume of SMS spam, causing users' screens to freeze and spreading programs that caused the phones to dial emergency numbers.
According to some experts, other parts of the world should brace themselves for a similar deluge. Others, however, point to several reasons why SMS spam is not likely to become as prevalent in North America and Europe as it is in Japan. For one thing, text messaging itself is much more popular in Japan. Forrester Research reported that 80% of Japanese mobile users use text messaging, in contrast to just 17% in the United States. Furthermore, it costs the sender about $0.08-0.12 to send each text message -- not prohibitive for most users, but too costly to make the mass mailings of the spammer profitable.
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17 Jul 2007
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