Caps on cell phone use for kids mulled

Legislation should prohibit children younger than 12 years old from using mobile phones to ward off the influence of pornography on mobile WAP sites, experts said.

Authorities could learn from foreign experience as a number of countries have restricted mobile phone use for children under 12, Yang Weiping, professor of Shaanxi Normal University and a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Shaanxi provincial committee, was quoted by www.chinanews.com.cn on Tuesday as saying.

The suggestion came after China launched a string of crackdowns on pornographic and lewd content on the Internet since last year. More than 15,000 pornographic websites, including more than 11,000 mobile WAP sites, were shut down or blocked last year. On Dec 8, the country launched a new round of crackdowns on pornographic content spread through Internet or mobile WAP sites.