Jaxtr, a Silicon Valley startup that lets users bypass a carrier’s international phone charges via the Web, said on Wednesday it is offering free mobile phone text messages between 38 countries. Jaxtr members can use a simple Web form to send a text message to a mobile phone in any of the supported countries, which include the United States, Brazil and Britain as well as Kenya, Slovenia and Ukraine.

Jaxtr offers free texting between 38 countries | Technology | Internet | Reuters

Tad Hirsch, the creator of a mass text-messaging system Txtmob used to aid protesters during the 2004 Republican National Convention is resisting releasing information on its users. The New York Times reports. “Last month the New York City Law Department issued a subpoena to Tad Hirsch, a doctoral candidate at MIT who wrote the code that created TXTmob. Lawyers representing the city in lawsuits filed by hundreds of people arrested during the convention asked Mr. Hirsch to hand over voluminous records revealing the content of messages exchanged on his service and identifying people who sent and received messages. Mr. Hirsch says that some of the subpoenaed material no longer exists and that he believes he has the right to keep other information secret.

textually.org: NY City City Subpoenas Creator of Textmob