Online sites accessible only through mobile phones are becoming a popular new method for distributing porn, since the technology makes it harder for the government to shut them down.There are now some 650 million cellphone users in China, of which 50 million are primary and middle-school students who have SIM cards that grant them access to the internet. There are many kinds of anti-porn software available to filter illegal content from computers, but there are few similar options on mobile phones.
In November, China launched a nationwide campaign to crack down on cellphone porn by developing a more wholesome environment for the mobile devices. China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) says the key to curbing cellphone porn is to break the chain from the wireless application protocol (WAP) pornographic websites to telecom carriers, online advertising agencies and third-party payment providers.
The ministry wants to develop cellphone filtering software that stops pornographic content spreading.
Beijing Review.com.cn reports that China Mobile, the country’s largest wireless carrier, has blocked access to certain sites and stopped doing business with companies that have been exposed by media reports. China Telecom, another giant wireless operator, also pledged to work with the government to remove porn services.