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From New York Times:
A new program that lets cellphone users send text messages to donate to the American Red Cross in major natural disasters has come under fire by a consumer group that contends the program is a business development strategy masquerading as charity.
"The wireless industry has made a very direct appeal here to the hearts of Americans to use these short codes to make charitable donations, but people don't realize that every short code comes with a bill," Jamie Court, president of the group, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, said about the five-digit codes used to send text messages.
The program, Text 2Help, was first used after Hurricane Katrina, and was promoted last month at a wireless industry trade show.
What rankles the consumer group is that each donation is capped at $5 and will incur standard text-messaging fees, which on AT&T are 15 cents.
"One of the considerations in a trade organization is that we cannot discuss matters of pricing," Mr. Diggs said.
The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights has sent a letter about the program to former Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton, who raised money for Hurricane Katrina victims and who were keynote speakers at the trade show, asking them to urge the companies to waive the fees.
Jay Carson, a spokesman for Mr. Clinton, said Mr. Clinton's appearance at the trade show was not an endorsement of Text 2Help or any other program.
"It hasn't gone gangbusters," Mr. Ciccarelli said of the cellphone fund-raising.
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Posted on April 10, 2007 10:41 PM
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