Timberland and GSI cough up $7 million to settle text spam lawsuit

Not that we haven't seen victories over SMS spammers before, but this one is sure catching a lot of attention due to the names attached. GSI Commerce and Timberland have reportedly agreed to "establish a fund of up to $7 million to settle a class-action lawsuit brought against them for allegedly sending unsolicited text messages to wireless telephone users in violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act." The settlement has already received preliminary approval from a judge in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division, and while the aforementioned firms vehemently deny any wrongdoing, they concede that taking this to court would be "burdensome, protracted and expensive." More expensive than $7 million? Is that guilt we smell, or what?

[Via mocoNews]

[jashsayani Posted Sep 23rd 2008 9:36AM]

$7 m to settle text spam ! Wooow!

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 23rd 2008 9:40AM]

A just outcome!

Carmelo Lisciotto

[psyclotron Posted Sep 23rd 2008 2:40PM]

i agree

-Tom Prosciutto

[dsstrainer Posted Sep 23rd 2008 9:44AM]

Now if only I could stop getting text spam from "Timbaland" we'd be set

[evoGage Posted Sep 23rd 2008 9:45AM]

I suppose its too late to apologize.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 23rd 2008 11:44AM]

LoL, good one.

[Tal Rico Posted Sep 23rd 2008 9:48AM]

Timberland, the shoe company?

[JerkyChew Posted Sep 23rd 2008 9:51AM]

Isn't his name spelled "Timbaland"?

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 23rd 2008 10:04AM]

Um, I'm not sure I understand. Clogging up the wireless bill? Do you Americans pay for each SMS you receive or something like the depreciated snail mail system used to oh so long ago.

[mrotier Posted Sep 23rd 2008 10:16AM]

in America you either buy a text messaging package, mine is 500 a month + unlimited to verizon customers for $10/mo, or you pay per text, usually $0.25 a text. it doesnt work that way elsewhere? this is news to me

[aardWolf Posted Sep 23rd 2008 10:16AM]

Yes, unfortunately. Many of us have bulk plans, but anyone without a plan gets charged around 10 cents for each text message received (even if unsolicited.) It's worse than snail mail, because you don't have to pay for the junk snail mail you get.

[jdripper Posted Sep 23rd 2008 11:55AM]

getting charged to receive a text message sucks !
Glad I'm on the other side of the Atlantic :-p

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 23rd 2008 10:11AM]

One thing about the iPhone is the text messaging was made much more easy to keep track of with the balloons per contact... and not just an "inbox" littered with rando messages...

[mrotier Posted Sep 23rd 2008 10:17AM]

it also made it easier for trolls to make pointless comments on an unrelated topic

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 24th 2008 7:09PM]

Thank God in Australia we don't pay for incoming SMS

[Hansaplastique Posted Sep 23rd 2008 10:59AM]

Over here in the US you pay for receiving calls and receiving SMS/MMS .... so both you and the sender pay.
There is a word for that let me think, oh yeah,.. STEALING ... :)

And as far as the $7M fund goes; how many people will really take the effort to get they're dime back for each spam message they received? Let me think; find out where to go, write a letter, postage, envelope, wait wait wait wait (like waiting for a Mail IN Rebate),... ah, my 20 cents are back.

So not only will hardly anybody collect, but the bastards will get away with spamming as well, under the pretense that "they did setup a fund for it" ... yeah ...

[pohatu771 Posted Sep 23rd 2008 11:23AM]

It's not stealing if you agree to the terms of service... I'm not saying its right, but if you sign the paper they can do whatever they want, within those limits.

[F orrest Posted Sep 23rd 2008 11:26AM]

This isn't about the people who actually received the unsolicited texts. At best they'll get some sort of small credit on their bill (IF they fill out the paperwork) or possibly some rebate coupon on a new phone or some new service.

What it's really about is the trial lawyers who negotiated the settlement. They'll get a big fat chunk of it, and the individual consumer gets, in effect, dick.

I'm not sure that big business needs any more breaks, but I think the whole concept of the class action lawsuit needs to be reworked. Right now it's just a cash cow for members of the legal profession.

[(Unverified) Posted Sep 23rd 2008 1:36PM]

But some people like getting dick? Say... women and gays?

[UnixSystemsEngineer Posted Sep 23rd 2008 11:15AM]

Yes, $7M is less expensive than taking it to court, and losing anyway :)

[alex7575 Posted Sep 23rd 2008 6:33PM]

"and while the aforementioned firms vehemently deny any wrongdoing, they concede that taking this to court would be "burdensome, protracted and expensive."

If they "vehemently deny" any wrongdoing, then doesn't that mean they have no issue doing it again?

So they're paying damages back, but are not getting penalized???

[ran Posted Sep 23rd 2008 3:15PM]

Just means next time they don't settle outside of court and we sue them into oblivion.

[Millah Posted Sep 23rd 2008 3:13PM]

LOL!! I used to work there at GSI, its a big call center that handles like 100 different companies customer service.