OXFORD, United Kingdom-Having long denied their networks are being used to access pornography, U.K. cell-phone operators are now revealing plans on how to manage the issue in light of third-generation (3G) and 2.5-generation (2.5G) video services becoming increasingly available.
Vodafone has taken the lead and announced a “strategy” for mobile adult content that is said to include software tools to bar access to its own adult services, plus filtering mechanisms for access to the mobile Internet. The company confirmed it would also launch an R (restricted) rating system for adult content available via its Live! service. However, it has decided not to follow guidelines already established by the ad hoc Mobile Broadband Group, but said it is looking to “develop a code with the industry.”
Multimedia messaging service (MMS) equipment and software developers are said to be jointly discussing how they might assist the operator community by monitoring the type of multimedia traffic that flows across cellular networks. One initiative is said to include the automatic examination of each MMS for levels of certain color tones in an attempt to alert operators if pornography is being accessed without proper authorization.
However, Philip Taylor, a market researcher with U.K. firm Strategy Analytics, claimed the hype around porn services is over-rated. “We believe the advantages of the mobile phone as a personal and discrete device for viewing pornography are overstated. The value of the mobile channel to the porn industry will be greater as a CRM (customer relationship management) tool than as a distribution medium,” he said in a recent report.
The company claimed that, with so much pornography available free on the fixed Internet, demand for adult material will continue to be largely met by this route.
