Facebook may have to face court for its mobile text messaging service. An Indiana woman by the name of Lindsey Abrams has accused Facebook of allowing users to send unauthorized text messages to mobile phone numbers of users whose numbers used bo belong to someone else.
Abrams started getting messages from a Facebook user after she got her new phone from Verizon in November 2006. It seems that Verizon couldn't help her, as it informed her that it couldn't block these messages without cutting off her entire text messaging service. That sounds silly to me, but the case also states that Facebook has the wherewithal to have these messages cease.
Holding Facebook responsible for this behavior is a bit far fetched, and the responsibility lies more with the previous customer for not updating their Facebook profile with new mobile information, and the wireless provider, which should better support the blocking of unwanted messages. There are plenty of times I get ad text messages that I shouldn't have to pay for, but phone companies have a tendency to get money any way they can.
As Facebook is also facing some trouble from state attorneys general across the nation regarding better protection of users against sexual predators, it's not looking to good for Facebook, or other mobile-integrated text messaging services such as Twitter, Jaiku, and the rest. As Google's acquisition of Jaiku has already raised privacy issues regarding its ability to track activity on your mobile device, the ruling in this particular case against Facebook may hold implications across the board.