Although pornography on cellphones has fortunately not been made available in SA yet it is, not surprisingly, big business in Europe. The alarming growth of this phenomenon will undoubtedly spark much debate in SA.
Up until now, porn on cellphones hasn`t been possible with cellphone screens being far too small and blurry to be able to see anything. But with the advent of bigger colour screens and video capabilities, the viewing of quality pictures and video clips on a cellphone is fast becoming a reality.
The viewing of adult content is a multimillion-euro industry in Europe, with as much as 553 million euros expected to be generated from porn on cellphones despite the shortcomings of even the most technologically advanced phones in displaying adult entertainment.
What`s more, by 2005 the figure is expected to more than quadruple to an estimated 2.7 billion euros or more than 10% of the mobile services market.
Sadly, porn has always been big business and there is no doubt that it will give the cellular telephone industry an enormous cash injection.
Pornography did it for the Internet, making a personal computer (PC) that could access the Internet common place in the home. Graphics, sound and bandwidth were then upgraded for better viewing quality. Porn also pioneered online transactions and was a key factor in this sector`s development.
Unlike PCs, cellphone users have never had access to free content. Everything costs at least the price of the sms, except for voicemail retrieval and contacting one`s provider. The spin-off effect on cellphones may even be greater than the effect porn had on PCs, because everything will be charged for, either in download time or for sending illicit pictures to other people. And judging by the demand in Europe, people are certainly willing to fork out the money.
It is therefore almost certain that porn will become available on cellphones in SA at some point. This raises serious questions on the availability of pornography to minors and the distribution of illegal forms of porn in SA like child porn and bestiality.
Sadly, porn has always been big business and there is no doubt that it will give the cellular telephone industry an enormous cash injection.
Stephen Whitford, journalist, ITWeb
Sadly pornography is pretty much freely available to so many young people today, despite all our constitution has to say on the matter. Unless parents monitor what sites their children access (something that almost never happens), minors can access porn at the touch of the enter key. Through the Internet, child pornography and bestiality can easily be accessed. Despite laws governing the sale of pornography to minors, it is still generally freely available.
However, porn on cellphones will only make it that much more accessible.
Unlike PCs, mobile phones are far more accessible with as much as half the country having access to a cellphone. As cellphones become more advanced, so more of the population could access porn on them.
Prepaid cellphone packages allow total anonymity, and many children have cellphone contracts bought for them by their parents. The problem will be immense should cellphone porn come to SA. Even if that were to change and every cellphone user had to be registered allowing cellphone providers to monitor who was able to receive porn, the issue of cellphone mobility is still a problem.
Whereas most people use dial-ups to access the Internet from their home PCs - which have a password in order to connect - most people who have cellphones do not have or use a password once the phone is activated. Thus once a user`s phone is on and left unattended, a minor could simply pick it up and see what there was to offer. This means that minors could use a phone to search for porn and download it, or simply view porn stored on the phone. With infrared ports, it could also be transferred from someone`s phone.
I find myself asking whether we want pornography that available in our societies. Despite its harmful affect on our society, it has whittled its way into everything, becoming commonplace.
If pornography does become available on cellular telephones in SA, people will be looking at work, at home and walking down the streets. It will be everywhere, all the time, and freely available to all. Where does one draw the line? Does society still draw lines on this issue?
Share