Promo text messages an invasion of privacy

A SENATOR has sought a Senate inquiry into the practice of telecommunications companies of sending a barrage of "unsolicited promotional messages" to cell phone subscribers, saying this could be considered an invasion of privacy.

Senator Manuel "Mar" Roxas II has filed Resolution 169 urging the Senate committee on public services to look into the random sending of "uninvited promotional messages." by telecom companies and third-party content providers.

"The mobile telephone is a personal communication device. We are duty bound to safeguard the right of subscribers to privacy of communication,'' he said in a statement.

The National Telecommunications Commission has recently issued new guidelines to telecom companies and third-party content providers that bar them from sending out commercial text messages without first securing the consent of the recipient.