Society
Phone owner unware what he said 'wrong'
By Zheng Caixiong and Mo Xuan (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-19 07:58
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GUANGZHOU: After sending one "bad" text message, Xie Shaobin could not send or receive messages for a week on his cell phone.
"My message function has been suspended by the phone company since Jan 13 because my phone sent one 'bad message'," Xie told China Daily yesterday. "My work and my life have been seriously affected," he said.
Xie is an engineer in a toy factory in Dongguan in the prosperous Pearl River Delta, which borders Hong Kong and Macao.
Xie's cell phone was suspended from sending and receive messages after he was found to have sent a "bad message" early this year.
"But the phone company refused to show me the evidence that I sent a bad message," said Xie who says he has not done anything wrong.
"And those who want to resume their mobile's message function will have to bring their identity cards to local public security departments and write a letter promising not to send bad messages again," said the staff, who refused to be named.
Xie has complained to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology via the Internet but has not received a reply.
He plans to seek help from local consumer associations.
Xie is just one of the large number of people who have lost the message function on their cell phones in Dongguan.
But the special measure against sending and receiving such messages has sparked controversy.
Zhang Qingyuan, a researcher at the law research institute under the Guangdong academy of social sciences, said Chinese citizens should enjoy freedom of communication.
"Local laws and regulations (to suspend message functions) are suspected of running counter to the country's Constitution, which grants citizens such rights," Zhang said.
Meanwhile, cell phone users' rights to privacy will be infringed if their text messages can be read by either the phone companies or others, Zhang added.
Zhang Huan, a resident in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, said it was really hard to define which kinds of messages are bad.
"I think, sometimes, sending such a message between husband and wife or among close friends is just for fun, and doesn't cause harm," Zhang said.
But Chen Huazhong, a white-collar worker, said suspending the message function should be an effective and concrete measure to fight the growing number of trash messages.
