NEWS: Pakistan bans offensive (and unusual) text messages

by **LordRemington** Fri Nov 18, 2011 11:06 pm

Pakistan's telecommunications agency has issued a list of words
that it considers obscene or offensive, telling mobile phone companies
to block text messages that contain them.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) deemed 586 Urdu words
and 1,109 English words offensive or pornographic, according to reports
in local media.

Some are expletives or sexual words while others are medical terms, but some entries have left many scratching their heads.

Included in the list are words such as "intercourse," "condom" and
"breast," as well as seemingly ordinary words like "period," "hostage"
and "flatulence."

Among the more bizarre are "monkey crotch," "wuutang" and "Jesus Christ."
The PTA instructed mobile phone companies to begin screening text messages by Nov. 21.

According to the letter, the PTA says blocking the texts is meant to
control spamming, which it defines as "the transmission of harmful,
fraudulent, misleading, illegal or unsolicited messages in bulk to any
person without express permission of the recipient."

Mobile phone companies Telenor Pakistan and Ufone confirmed to BBC News that they had received the memo and the "dictionary."

A spokesman for the PTA, meanwhile, told The Guardian newspaper that the move was in response to complaints from customers who said they were receiving offensive text messages.

"Nobody would like this happening to their young boy or girl," Mohammad Younis said.

Pakistanis have been reacting to the news on Twitter, sometimes wondering what the words and expressions mean.

In my 20 years on this planet, I have NEVER heard someone use the term "monkey crotch" in any context, either verbally or through text. NEWS: Pakistan bans offensive (and unusual) text messages 292741

NEWS: Pakistan bans offensive (and unusual) text messages 292741

Still I don't at all understand why they are doing that. Someone sends someone else an offensive text. And? Because one person uses a word in an offensive manner means that no one is able to use that word?

by **Damnagoras** Sat Nov 19, 2011 8:24 am

It would make more sense to me if you would install an application that blocks messages you'd consider offensive. Spam filters aren't science fiction, and it really shouldn't take advanced software on your cell phone to block messages that contains words from a list which you create yourself. It actually sounds like something even I could almost construct, and I've only just started learning the basics of programming.

Edit: And what the heck, "monkey crotch"? Not simply crotch, but monkey crotch? I don't understand...

by **Vektrix** Sat Nov 19, 2011 8:31 am

Blocking the word "Period" is what gets me. "Breast" too. All it will mean is that people will shortne them. Anyway, "I spent that PERIOD of time on the Atkins - I ate a lot of Chicken BREAST!"

by **Damnagoras** Sat Nov 19, 2011 9:30 am

@Vek: I feel offended by your use of the word "people". I'm going to make a request that all new posts on this forum containing that word will be blocked. Oh, and that also goes for the words "lasso", "consistency" and "raisin".

See what I did there?

by **Vektrix** Sat Nov 19, 2011 9:34 am

I am offended by the use of the word "offended" Wink

I am also offended by Boybands, Most Reality TV and politicians...

Yep, saw what you did.

by **TheEmilion** Sat Nov 19, 2011 9:43 pm

I am offended by threads.
All threads must go. That's an ORDER.

(just sayin, the Sporum is screwy again)

by **OneDeadSlime** Mon Nov 21, 2011 5:52 am

EA's lord of the rings: battle for middle earth 2 also censors Jesus Surprised

by **Andeavor** Mon Nov 21, 2011 6:04 pm

First of all, you dont give young boys and girls a mobile phone and second, even if you did receive spam text messages, simply ignore them. Interestingly enough, I never receive any. Either my mobile phone service is that good at screening these texts or I don't have pervy or otherwise annoying people targeting me specifically.