Really, because frankly, I don't want Congress mucking about in this matter. There's been tremendous consumer backlash over this issue. Application developers and Apple are forming a response that looks pretty positive. The Congressional involvement, from my perspective, is just a meaningless dog & pony show. It won't have any bearing on the outcome.
I really dislike the line of reasoning that the government should step in any time a company makes a mistake. If something egregious is happening, then let's get the government involved, but what we don't need, is Washington getting their panties in a wad and trying to craft some new legislation. We all know how that turns out.
Law should always be the option of last resort for fixing a problem, never the go-to under most circumstances.
Laws do not go away in the United States - they can get overridden or re-interpreted by judges, but they never leave the books once they're on them. Part of the reason why our legal system has so many pitfalls is that laws written in bygone eras intended for use-cases that no longer exist can be interpreted and applied to modern scenarios.
Consumers should vote with their feet and wallets by using different apps that don't misuse their contact information or perhaps a different mobile platform altogether.
I think in this case Congress involvement was a bit uncharacteristic and populistic. We see so many issue in this area, and they are stepping in for a relatively minor issue on a platform which is generally most resrictive and protective?
I would rather see them stepping in and kicking AT&T (and friends) for 20c cost per SMS, non-free incoming SMS and abolishment of bulk SMS plans. Just recently I wanted to sign up for 100 for $5 plan, it's not there anymore, the only bulk plan left if $20 unlimited. This is ridiculous oligopoly and consumer exploitation.
