Just when I thought I had SPAM in control, at least in my email and blog comments (thanks to Akismet!), people find a new way to spam me. SMS. Vendors have this strange notion that if they send me a SMS, there is a better chance of me buying their product.

Flash News: You are wrong! I start to hate your product when you Spam-SMS me. The more your Spam-SMS me, the less chance of me buying your product (even if I needed it).

As I am writing this (the time now is 11p.m. IST), I get a SMS about a job opening in some call center. I have never worked in call centers. I have never registered myself for a job at a call center. Then on what basis are they sending me these messages?

It has been worse – I have got one of these Spam-SMS at 1a.m. Another time, some computer repair guy/company sent me the same SMS about his repair services 24 times, over a period of 30 minutes. I was in church at that time.

Permission marketing for these guys seems to be defined like this – “Sir, you have a cellphone? That’s good enough. You just gave us permission!”

Image: A screenshot of some of the unread Spam-SMS I have received. It accumulated to 51 unread SMS in just 3 days!