Cellular Convergence and the Death of Privacy by Wicker Stephen B

Author:Wicker, Stephen B.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 2013-08-10T16:00:00+00:00

ARCHITECTURE AND CENSORSHIP

Given the centralized design of cellular networks, the cellular user must depend on the good will of the service provider for a wide variety of services. As only cellular voice has been granted common carriage status, the service providers may choose to say no when other services are requested. It was along these lines that in 2007 Verizon committed a frequently cited example of text message censorship.37 Verizon and other texting service providers provide broadcast texting services through what is commonly called a short code, a five- or six-digit number that acts like a telephone number, but is much shorter and easier to remember. Upon request and after payment of a fee, a service provider will process text messages to and from the short code. SMS subscribers can then sign up to receive text messages broadcast by the advertiser or service organization associated with the short code. The US Common Short Code WHOIS Directory38 lists over a thousand short codes that are common to U.S. service providers. Table 2 is a randomly selected excerpt; note the diversity of organizations in the list.

TABLE 2 A SAMPLING OF SMS CODES

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