Free Republic

Twice a year, the organization representing the wireless industry puts out a bunch of facts and figures on how much we're using our phones in the U.S., and each time, I can't help but marvel at the results. The big number this time around, according to the CTIA: In the past six months alone, Americans sent an estimated 740 billion text messages, which comes out to about 4.1 billion messages each day. Put another way: That's 11.7 text messages a day for every man, woman, and child in the country. (Of course, the average American teen can fire off 11...

14-year jail for SMS joke on Pakistani president IANS 19 July 2009, 08:52pm IST ISLAMABAD: It would seem that in Pakistan, there is nothing you need to watch out for more than making a joke about President Asif Ali Zardari by SMS (Short Messaging Service). If you mistakenly, or just for fun, share with a friend one of the hundreds of derisory jokes about the leader floating around electronically, you could get a 14-year prison sentence. Pakistan's interior minister Rehman Malik announced last week that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has been tasked to trace SMS (or text messages) and...

SNIPPET: "Meanwhile, if anyone has any sites to add to this list, or any other insights regarding HuT online, I'm right here."

ISLAMABAD: SNIPPET: "This correspondent again received an SMS from the banned outfit, criticising the government for closure of its website and describing the step as suppression of the freedom of expression. The SMS, sent by media office of the banned organisation, also carried a new URL: http://www.hizb-pakistan.info/. When The News drew the FIA official’s attention towards the new website of the Hizb, he said they were working to shut down the new website as well. He said that they were, however, facing some problems in this regard because the banned outfit was using the most modern technology to propagate its...

Note: Photo included. SNIPPET: "Mexico condemns the excessive use of force associated with the Israeli army operation in Gaza, " a statement from the Mexican Foreign Ministry said late Tuesday. It also condemned "the continued launching of mortars into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip". Latin American countries have largely condemned Israel over its launch of 'Operation Cast Lead' on Gaza on December 27. Immediately after Israeli warplanes attacked the strip, Cuba called the offensive an "act of genocide" and a "criminal military operation, the bloodiest one executed by Israel against the Palestinian people." Three day later, the Bolivian Foreign...

RESIDENTS at certain addresses in the Gaza Strip have been receiving unusual phone calls since the Israeli air assault began on Saturday - a request that they and their families leave their homes as soon as possible for their own safety.

Google has introduced yet another great feature, Google SMS! With its incredible in simplicity it's meant for contacting people who are not online when your Google Chat is enabled. The service allows the receipt of messages by your Google contacts on their cell phones, as SMS. In other words, if you wish to contact someone who is not online at the moment and time is of the essence… NOW YOU CAN!!!

Swedes smash Christmas SMS record Swedes set a new record for text messages on Christmas Eve, according to Telia. On December 24th a total of 9.3 million text messages were sent via the Swedish telecom giant's network. That compares to just 6.2 million SMS messages sent on Christmas Eve last year. In Telia's annual Christmas survey, 12 percent of customers said that they would prefer to send their seasonal greeting by SMS, while 16 percent would rather make a phone call. The majority, 64 percent, sent their greetings in the morning but a quarter left it until after 4pm, when...

Malaysian senator fined for divorcing wife by SMS Fri Jan 20, 12:01 AM ET KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - A Malaysian Muslim senator has been fined for divorcing his wife by sending her an SMS text message and leaving a voicemail on her mobile phone. The senator, Kamaruddin Ambok, 52, was fined 550 ringgit (147 dollars) Thursday by a Islamic or sharia court for attempting to divorce his wife Mahani Hussain by phone in October 2001, instead of declaring his intentions in court. The maximum punishment for the offence is 1,000 ringgit or six months' jail, reports said. "When you marry...

The Talk Shows Sunday, November 20th, 2005 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld; Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del. MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa.; Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt; Dr. Julie Gerberding, director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Dr. Mike Ryan, director, Epidemic and Pandemic Alert and Response Department of the World Health Organization. FACE THE NATION (CBS): Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld; Sens. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and Chris Dodd,...

SMS Revolution Shahram Rafizadeh Oct. 19, 2005 Blocking SMS (Short Message Service) is a new communications instrument that is taken very seriously by the new Iranian government and those in the Ministry of Communications. In order to confront and control SMS messaging and the relevant communications technology, president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his hard-line government ministers have seriously decided to take the necessary measures to limit the use of a technology that at critical junctures can be used by the government's critics and opposition groups. Iranian authorities believe that they have successfully completed their efforts to block internet access and have...

THESSALONIKI, Greece — Police in northern Greece today arrested a man who claimed to have received a telephone text message from a passenger on board a Cypriot airliner that crashed north of Athens, killing 121 people. Police identified the man as Nektarios-Sotirios Voutas, 32. Voutas had called Greek television stations shortly after the Helios Airways flight crashed into a mountainous region north of the capital Sunday, saying his cousin, who he identified as Nikos Petridis, was on board. He claimed his cousin had sent him a cell-phone text message minutes before the crash saying: ``Farewell, cousin, here we're frozen.'' The...

VATICAN CITY - It took just minutes for the Vatican to alert the world's media of Pope John Paul's death -- using text messages and email so the 2000-year-old Church could meet the new demands of real-time news. Just a quarter of an hour after the Pope was pronounced dead on Saturday, the Vatican sent journalists an SMS message alerting them to a pending statement. Television networks across the globe were already on standby a minute later when the email communique was beamed to a sea of state-of-the-art handheld computers, purchased by journalists at the suggestion of the Vatican. "The...

New Year texts break recordBy David Derbyshire, Consumer Affairs Editor (Filed: 05/01/2005) New Year revellers sent a record 133 million mobile phone text messages on New Year's Day, smashing the previous record by more than 20 million. Between midnight on Dec 31 and midnight on Jan 1 Britain's five main mobile phone networks dealt with twice the usual volume of messages. The record day followed a phenomenal year for SMS messaging. According to the Mobile Data Association, an industry body that promotes texting, a record 25 billion texts were sent on mobile phones in Britain last year. That figure is...

A TEENAGER sent a telephone text message to her father as she lay dying in the boot of a car identifying his girlfriend as her murderer. The desperate feat of Stephanie De Mulder, 18, whose battered body was found in Antwerp harbour at the weekend, has appalled and fascinated Belgium. Her action has led to the arrest of the partner and her son, who believed they had executed a perfect crime. Police said Maura van Lommel, 44, returned last Wednesday night from a Dutch holiday to the home she shared with Gilbert De Mulder at Battel, north of Brussels. Along...

In recent weeks, cellular users in Hong Kong had what must be an interesting experience: After dialing a three-digit number, they received a text message offering lists of places to stay away from in order to avoid the SARS virus. They could also receive SARS rumors, sent person-to-person as text messages. Another text message--sent to 6 million phones by Hong Kong authorities--tried to quash a SARS-related rumor that was spreading on the Internet. All of these messages were sent via something called short message service (more commonly known as SMS), a cellular feature that's widely used in Asia and Europe...

A decision by federal election regulators to exempt text-based wireless ads from campaign disclosure rules has critics warning that consumers could find their mobile phones subject to a flood of political spam as campaign 2002 kicks into high gear. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) today approved a New Jersey technology firm's petition to waive disclosure rules for political ads delivered via SMS -- or "short messaging service." SMS is featured on a wide range of wireless devices, from digital mobile phones to Blackberries to two-way pagers.