14 July 2004
CHINA MOVES TO MONITOR TEXT MESSAGING
The Chinese government has approved a company's bid to sell technology that allows text messages sent by mobile phones to be monitored, raising fears that authorities are stepping up efforts to further clamp down on free expression, say Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF) and Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE).
Venus Info Tech Ltd, a Chinese company, says the Public Security Ministry has given it permission to sell a real-time surveillance system for SMS (Short Message Service), or text, messages. The technology filters keywords and combinations of keywords, which generate automatic alerts that are transmitted to the police, says RSF. The system stores information about the identity of text message senders for 60 days.
The company says the new surveillance system will allow it to capture "false political rumours" and "reactionary remarks." This follows the launching of a government campaign last month to stamp out the criminal use of text messages, notes RSF. A government official said it was important that "specialised technology" be used to fight this type of crime.
RSF says the SMS surveillance technology represents another plank in Beijing's campaign to muzzle free expression. It already employs sophisticated software to monitor Internet service providers and block websites containing politically sensitive information.
Text messaging is hugely popular in China, where the mobile phone market is the largest in the world. Last year, Chinese people sent more than 220 billion text messages - more than half of all text messages sent around the world, reports the BBC.
Visit these links:
- RSF: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=10870
- RSF Report on Internet Censorship in China: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=10749
- CJFE: http://www.cjfe.org
- China Digital News: http://journalism.berkeley.edu/projects/chinadn/en/
- BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3859403.stm
RSS