Verizon Wireless said today that it is continuing its efforts to protect its customers from wireless spam. Over the past several months, the company has filed several additional lawsuits against people and companies who sent unwanted text messages to Verizon Wireless subscribers, offering everything from discount prescription medication, to vacations, to stock information.

Those lawsuits, each filed in U.S. District Court in Trenton, N.J., include:

• A "John Doe" lawsuit filed in early October alleging that certain parties sent nearly 30,000 unsolicited messages promoting various Web sites selling medications and promoting a specific company's stock. In many cases, the actual messages include non-sensical words, with an attachment that includes information about the stock. Attachments are not able to be delivered or viewed via text messaging.
• A "John Doe" lawsuit filed on September 29 alleging that certain parties inundated Verizon Wireless and its subscribers with approximately 550,000 unsolicited text messages promoting various penny stocks that are traded over the counter. Many of the messages in this case were sent to subscribers with New York area codes.
• A lawsuit filed in June 2006 said certain "John Does" were alleged to be involved with sending more than 1.1 million text messages advertising discount prescription medication. Nearly 70 percent of these messages went to subscribers with New Jersey area codes. The Web site from which these messages were sent, which is registered to an entity in Poland, has since been shut down.

"These lawsuits are just a small part of our company's efforts to stop unwanted messages from reaching our customers' handsets," said Steve Zipperstein, vice president and general counsel, Verizon Wireless. "Verizon Wireless remains committed to defending the strong wall of customer privacy we've built over the years through our network practices and our industry leading pro-consumer policies."

Customers are able to block certain text messages by logging on to www.vtext.com, going to "MyTXT" and choosing "TXT blocking" from the drop-down menu. Options include blocking all messages sent from the Web, or designating certain addresses from which you don't want to receive text messages.

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maybe a spam filtering phone will help?