For years, the national do not call registry has curbed the number of unsolicited phone calls from telemarketers that make it through to phone lines. This worked well and good when everyone had land lines and cell phones were only beginning to emerge, but today’s solicitors have adapted to an increasingly mobile world. One of the newest annoyances that is gaining popularity is spam text messages that mobile users are receiving, but Connecticut lawmakers are attempting to rectify this with a new do not text registry.

Rather than make an entirely separate registry for texting and calling, Connecticut’s senators are instead opting to protect consumers by updating the existing do not call registry to include texting on the list of punishable offenses. They also chose to increase the penalties for violations to a range between $11K and $20K per offense. The bill was so popular in the Senate that it passed with a unanimous vote on Tuesday.

These senators from Connecticut show that the law is indeed adapting to a world filled with mobile devices, albeit slowly. Many of us have already been dealing with spam text messages from solicitors for a few years now, but if this bill proves effective in Connecticut it is likely that it will expand to the national do not call registry.

Legal systems are notoriously slow in comparison to the rate at which technology changes, so even if a national do not text registry is enacted you can expect solicitors to come up with creative new ways to get your attention. Already hackers try to use fake web pages to try and ‘phish’ sensitive information from users, and while this is a more malicious tactic than most telemarketers use, some of the tactics behind them could be re-appropriated into something that is still technically legal. As always, it will be up to regular people to recognize telemarketers, and simply ignore them when possible.