{"id":548324,"date":"2006-03-23T11:22:11","date_gmt":"2006-03-23T11:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/wordpress\/technology\/548324-sex-cells.html"},"modified":"2006-03-23T11:22:11","modified_gmt":"2006-03-23T11:22:11","slug":"sex-cells","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/technology\/548324-sex-cells.html","title":{"rendered":"SEX CELLS"},"content":{"rendered":"

The market for cellphone-based adult content in SA has already mushroomed to an estimated R60m\/year. It is expected to more than double to R150m within a year. Worldwide, the market is expected to be worth US$2,3bn by 2010, according to research group Informa Telecom & Media. <\/font><\/p>\n

Content providers that mainly used to sell ring tones and graphics are offering more and more adult content. "Any content provider that says it does not provide adult content is lying," says iTouch CEO Wayne Levine. <\/font><\/p>\n

Though there is a significant market for adult content, distributing it has its challenges, Levine says. Without proper safeguards, children can get access to sexually explicit content, cellular networks can become an easy way to distribute child pornography and consumers can find themselves locked into paying for services they no longer want. <\/font><\/p>\n

Cognisant of the dangers of an unregulated industry, SA content providers and mobile operators have drawn up codes of conduct and are introducing new technology to manage the distribution of adult content. <\/font><\/p>\n

There’s a fear that a handful of rogue content providers could harm the industry – and invite regulatory scrutiny – by recklessly providing material to minors. As a result, the industry is trying to regulate itself through the Wireless Application Service Providers’ Association (Waspa). <\/font><\/p>\n

Waspa has created a code of conduct that stipulates, among other things, that "explicit confirmation of a user’s age must be obtained prior to the delivery of an adult service". Waspa members also have to provide a means for customers to unsubscribe from a service. <\/font><\/p>\n

MTN, Vodacom and Cell C will only deal with a content provider that is a member of Waspa or at least agrees with its code of conduct. <\/font><\/p>\n

Operators and content providers also allow parents to block minors from accessing content. Vodacom says it is introducing strategies to deal with adult content. Its managing executive for products and services, Chris Ross, says the operator ensures the content it distributes on its Vodafone Live website is no more revealing than glamour pictures in the likes of FHM and Maxim. <\/font><\/p>\n

Ross says there are also plans to introduce an "adult filter" by the end of the year that will warn subscribers when they are about to access sexually explicit content, but he says it is not the operator’s job to "act as judge and jury on what content people have access to". <\/font><\/p>\n

The rise of cellphone porn has created a headache for regulators, Cellular technology has made some aspects of the Films & Publications Act , which governs the distribution of pornography, difficult to enforce. <\/font><\/p>\n

Film & Publication Board senior officer Iyavar Chetty says all distributors of films containing sexually explicit material have to be registered with the board. Because there are no cellphone content providers registered with the board – and the board technically views the transmission of content over a cellphone network as "film" – these companies are operating illegally, he says. <\/font><\/p>\n

Chetty says it will meet with Waspa in the next few weeks to resolve the matter. <\/font><\/p>\n

INet-Bridge<\/i> \u00a0||\u00a0 <\/font>Discuss this article<\/font><\/a> <\/font><\/p>\n

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\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pornography. It’s always been big business. So it’s little surprise, perhaps, that with new cellular technologies, such as high-speed, third-generation (3G) networks, adult content is making its way on to consumers’ handsets. In fact, cellphone porn is booming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-548324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548324"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548324\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}