AT&T sends more SMS Spam, locusts infest exec underwear

The phone chirped notice of an incoming text message. We don't have an SMS plan, so that's unusual. Was it an urgent message from my wife?

I struggled to pull the phone from my pocket. Oops, drifting in my lane a bit. A sharp correction ... too sharp on black ice. The van spins into the path of the oncoming oil tanker.

It's all so fast. The crunch and shattering glass, the crushing pain, then the searing fireball. The last thing I see is the message ...

"AT&T FREE MSG: Share your love ... Add a Line for your Valentine! Visit an AT&T Store .."

Lungs searing, I gasp out my Death Wish.

A plague of locusts infests the underwear of the AT&T executive team -- and that's just the beginning ...

Apparently, AT&T was not discouraged by the reaction to their American Idol spam ...

Gordon's Notes: Annals of idiocy - AT&T spams customers about a TV show

... lunacy like AT&T's recent bonehead move deserves at least a whimper or two (emphases mine) ...

AT and T Sends Customers ‘Idol’ Ads - NYTimes.com

Some AT&T Wireless customers have voted an emphatic no on a promotion for “American Idol” that popped up on their phones this week.

AT&T, a sponsor of the show, said it sent text messages to a “significant number” of its 75 million customers, urging them to tune in to the season premiere on Tuesday night...

... Mark Siegel, a spokesman for AT&T Wireless, said the message was meant as a friendly reminder. “We want people to watch the show and participate,” Mr. Siegel said. He added, “It makes perfect sense to use texting to tell people about a show built on texting.”

... Mr. Siegel said the message went to subscribers who had voted for “Idol” singers in the past, and other “heavy texters.” He said the message could not be classified as spam because it was free and because it allowed people to decline future missives...

... Richard Cox, the chief information officer for Spamhaus, a nonprofit antispam organization based in Britain, countered: “It’s absolutely spam. It’s an unsolicited text message. People who received it didn’t ask for it. That’s the universal definition of spam.”..

So now they're back, advertising AT&T services.

I replied "STOP" to the message. I suspect I'll be dinged 20 cents for that one. There will be more.

I wonder how they know not to send these things to, say US Senators? They must have some way to avoid infuriating people who might hurt them with something more material than imaginary locusts.

Maybe AT&T has forgotten that it's not the Bush era any more. Betty McCollum is our US Senator, and soon, if we're lucky, Al Franken will join her. He's not there yet, so let's see if Betty is interested in sending AT&T some Minnesota love ...

See also: AT&T's rebate scam. I wonder if they've had any serious accounting audits lately; corporations who play these sorts of games tend to play other games too ...