SMS porn blocker implemented in South Africa
Link: IOL: How to keep porn off your child’s cellphone.
A Cape Town-based company has introduced an SMS service to block cellphones from accessing adult content and pornography in an attempt to stem the tide of pornography schoolchildren can obtain.
Smsweb has so far provided 125 schools with the SMS service called PornBlocker, which allows parents to block their children from accessing pornography on their cellphones. To activate the service, parents send an SMS with their children’s cellphone details and the company blacklists the number so that they are unable to view inappropriate material.
I wonder what would happen if I sent a text with my friend’s mobile number? Would they automatically block his mobile? 
I wonder how exactly the service works. I had a look at the Porn Blocker product page on the Smsweb site, but it doesn’t give specifics.
I think they must do some sort of filtering on the SMS message prior to delivery to the handset — because the page also points out:
If children have internet enabled cell phones they will still be able to download adult content directly from the web, and we recommend that parents monitor this closely.
To answer the questions:
If you sent a text with a friend’s mobile number, we would automatically block his mobile. Until we heard from him and he could prove his age.
The service works by blocking the numbers at source with the adult content providers.
Posted by Salah ElBaba on July 3rd, 2006 at 4:19 pm.