China, are seriously?
China to scan text messages for “unhealthy” content
In the latest initiative in China's fight against pornography, mobile phone operators in Beijing and Shanghai have been told to suspend text services for cellphone users who send text messages with “illegal or unhealthy content,” state media reported on Tuesday.
China Mobile, one of the country's largest cellular providers, said that text messages will be automatically scanned for “key words” provided by the police, a China Daily report said. If the text message fails to meet 13 criteria formulated by nine central government departments, it will be classified as “unhealthy,” the operator said. China Mobile did not give details about the criteria.
When a suspected unhealthy message is detected, China Mobile will temporarily suspend the message function of the user and wait for the police to make a final determination. If the police considers the message unhealthy, the user will be unable to send messages “temporarily.”
The user will receive a certificate from the police that will allow the resumption of text messaging services if the police think the message meets guidelines.
A customer service representative from China Mobile's Shanghai branch told China Daily that suspension would only occur when the operator's system has automatically detected that the user is sending or has sent “a large amount” of illegal information. An account could also be suspended if the operator receives complaints from other users.
China Telecom and China Unicom, two other major mobile phone operators in China, said they will do the same, according to a report in Beijing-based Mirror Evening News cited by China Daily.
Chinese authorities defended the measure as necessary to stamp out illegal activity on the internet and in electronic communication, the New York Times said. Some analysts suggest, the paper said, that ministries are competing to fulfill the government's demands for stricter controls.
Kan Kaili, a professor of telecommunications at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunication, told the New York Times that although Chinese authorities have been monitoring cellphone text messages quietly for some time, the new measures appeared to broader and more intrusive and punitive.
“They are doing wide-ranging checks, checking anything and everything, even if it is between a husband and wife. I don't think people will be very happy about this,” he said.
Ju Yi, a lawyer with the Shanghai Hui Gu law firm, said that legal clarifications have to be made, such as how unhealthy content is defined.
“I don't think this action is reasonable,” Ju told China daily. “The intention is good. However, I think it is not easy to achieve the expected result. The contract between China Mobile and its clients has to be considered as well, so the operator cannot just easily suspend the service.”