From Aunty-Spam.Com
Scofflaws, pimps and lazies love their SMS.
According to various news reports this week, SMS text messages are now being used by courts in England to track down scofflaws, by pimps in India to advertise prostitution services, and by people around the world who are too lazy to send Christmas and Hanukkah cards.
According to a newly released study by AOL, a “surprising number” of people chose to send holiday cheer messages, primarily for Christmas and Hanukkah, by SMS text message this year, rather than sending more traditional greeting cards. Just how large a number of people is considered “surprising”? Well, I was certainly surprised! In a survey of people across the United States, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and the UK, at least 35% of people in the U.S. said that they would send a holiday message by SMS, and the U.S. had the lowest response rate! The percentage of those surveyed in the UK, France, Germany and Spain who said that they had used or would be using SMS as their preferred form of holiday greeting ranged from 56% to 88%, while in Italy a whopping 91% of people surveyed said that they either had or were going to use SMS text messages to send their holiday greetings. Wow!
Meanwhile, in England, some British courts are starting to use SMS text messages to remind scofflaws that they need to pay their fines. In a sweep dubbed “Operation Payback Three”, a Midlands court sent out SMS text messages to 150 offenders reading, essentially “pay up or get locked up.” According to officials, 75% of the targeted scofflaws paid up immediately, netting the court nearly 2million pounds ($3,477,449 USD).
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