Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Beep! Beep! You have Broken the Law.

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the but-what-are-they-doing-with-the-organs dept.

medscaper writes "Authorities in China are using computers to spam mobile phones of law-breakers until they turn themselves in. Apparently, lots of illegal advertisements as stickers with mobile-phone numbers listed are placed around large cities and are becoming an eyesore. So, the authorities call the cell phones incessantly with recorded messages that demand the "businessmen" to turn themselves in."

8 of 322 comments (clear)

  1. Hmm... by MacFury · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How well does this actually work? Wouldn't they just get a new phone number?

    1. Re:Hmm... by Echnin · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Well, as the article says, there are fees associated with that, and they may also lose their business. I think this is an amusing idea. I also think that advertisements should be illegal, as it only serves to make successful companies richer and create jobs where people do nothing more than convince other people to do something. So I say phonebomb EVERY phone number you see listed publicly! Even that guy Mark who was looking for partners in the Men's Room.

      --
      Lalala
    2. Re:Hmm... by gmack · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yes but that provides an easy way to DDos a competing buisness: just post the number somewhere"

      Ohh and odds are it wasn't mark who put the number in the men's room .. it was probably someone who thought it would be funny for hum to get a lot of freaky phone calls. It's a common prank.

    3. Re:Hmm... by count3r · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Yes but that provides an easy way to DDos a competing buisness: just post the number somewhere

      Yah. The problem here is that the state is accusing, convicting and punishing the criminal without he/she ever getting a chance provide a defense. They are assuming that the posted phone numbers belong to criminals because (presumably) they are the ones that benefit most from the posting.

      This (I think) is sort of similar to the problems that were raised with using cameras to spot traffic violations. Early on, the cameras would record the license number of a violator (who had, for example, run a red light) and the send the registered owner of the car a ticket. The problem is/was that the violation was commited by a driver who wasn't necessarily the owner of the car.

      I think the police solved this problem by photographing both the license plate and the driver-- the photo of the driver can be compared to an existing photo of the registered owner. If they match, ticket time...

      Given these problems, would government phone-bombing be allowed here (in the US)?

  2. Easy to cause trouble with by gorf · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So, if I don't like someone, all I have to do is make up a few ads with his number on and stick them up places, and the state will spam him for me?

  3. Creative Law Enforcement, Possible Issues by silvakow · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is perhaps the most creative way to enforce a law I've ever heard of. More power to 'em. It would be easy, however, to anonymously attack someone by putting their cell phone number on a sticker and posting it around town. I hope they don't prosecute people that have been attacked this way.

    --
    In the long run, we're all dead.
  4. Manual check? by fastdecade · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The numbers are also checked manually and require the approval of a senior official before the bombardment can begin, he told the People's Daily.

    This is the bit I'd be worry about. You'd hate someone to target you and have you taken "for punishment" by pasting a few stickers in your name.

    So how effective is the manual check?

  5. Knee jerk reaction by wiggys · · Score: 3, Insightful
    At first I thought this was a truly great idea.

    However, there is a huge problem with it: If you hate someone all you do is make some fake ads with their phone numbers on and leave them for the Chinese authorities to find and then spam.

    Result: an innocent person has a whole lotta shit to clean up.

    If the authorities do take some time to investigate the ads (ie actually try phoning the numbers and try to buy the products would be a start) then I think it might be a good way to deal with the criminals who promote their wares.

    Similar tactics have been done before against email spammers whereby people find out the spammer's home address and send them junk mail in the post. It pisses the spammers off, but unfortunately finding out the senders of such crap is much more difficult as they don't rely on an email address to take orders with.

    --

    Sorry, but my karma just ran over your dogma.