Wireless carriers and content providers around the world are salivating over potential revenues from adult content, which is expected to generate $1 billion annually within the next few years, according to a study by the Yankee Group. But already, governments, concerned citizens and wireless companies are struggling with how to control mobile porn.
Last month, South Korea pledged to invest $8.8 million to develop technologies to protect children from Internet pornography, and Japan has set aside $2 million to develop a mobile-phone filtering system. Governments in Germany, Australia and Taiwan are proposing, or have passed, legislation to require mobile operators to provide safeguards from porn on phones and help control chat and dating applications.
In China, police have arrested more than 300 people for peddling Internet and mobile porn since July, according to Xinhua news agency. In an intensified effort to fight such content, the Chinese government threatened distributors last week with severe punishments including life imprisonment.
Much like other wireless applications, mobile porn has been slower to catch on in the United States than in other parts of the world. But as technology allows for higher-quality content, such as streaming video and multimedia message service, the demand is sure to grow, said Alan A. Reiter, president of Wireless Internet and Mobile Computing.
“Because of the privacy a cell phone offers and the instant gratification of wireless service, there’s little doubt that porn will be successful for certain target audiences,” Reiter said. “Unlike reading a magazine, which can be seen by anyone in a subway, it’s tougher to see what’s on a cell phone.”
One of the biggest problems facing consumers in some Asian markets is spam, Reiter said.
“In Japan, there has been a lot of spam sent to cell phones, including porn,” said Reiter. “The cellular operators in the U.S. have looked at what’s happening in Asia and are trying to learn from that to put safeguards in place.”
There are several ways to control such content, said Reiter, some of which are being employed by carriers in foreign markets. European operator Vodafone U.K. made headlines in July by launching an “opt-in” program, forcing subscribers to prove they are of legal age either by providing credit-card numbers or visiting Vodafone stores before allowing them to access questionable sites.
The launch came five months before the U.K. industry’s self-imposed deadline, but Vodafone’s effort has irritated some users, who complain they’ve been denied access to non-pornographic sites. And just as some subscribers have complained the filter blocks non-pornographic sites, others have said the program doesn’t do enough to protect children.
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In the United States, slow uptake of mobile porn by consumers has seemingly resulted in a delayed response to creating safeguards. While there may be lucrative opportunities for third-party providers to create applications that can filter mobile content, it’s largely been left to carriers-or porn providers themselves-to keep such content out of the hands of children.
No major U.S. carrier directly offers adult content to consumers; at the same time, operators are happy to offer third-party content whenever there’s a demand.
“No one wants to be seen as promoting porn in any way, but carriers are balancing negative reactions (to adult content) with money-making opportunities,” Reiter said.
AT&T Wireless Services Inc. has installed parental controls for its subscribers with mMode mobile Web users. The filtering system provides three levels: high filtering, which blocks all adult content including chat sites and some games; medium, which filters adult content and some games; or no filtering at all.
“Obviously, (adult content) is something we monitor very closely,” said AWS spokesman Jeremy Pemble. “We don’t believe it’s our role to be a censor … but our responsibility is to make people aware that many phones out there are capable of finding content that some may find objectionable.”
Pemble said AWS’ filters are “innovative and sufficient for today’s consumers,” but acknowledged that wireless content-particularly adult content-is a fluid market where changes occur quickly.
With the rapid growth of mobile porn globally, Reiter said U.S. companies should heed the lessons being learned in foreign markets.
“(Adult content) is a problem that isn’t going to go away,” he said, “and the wireless industry had better put filters in place before they get hauled before a congressional investigating committee. They all understand the problem; the question is the degree to which they offer safeguards. They’ve seen what’s happening overseas.”