February 11, 2007
Porn on Telus phones upsets the archbishop of Vancouver
The Roman Catholic archbishop of Vancouver is considering cancelling contracts with Telus after the phone company began making pornography available through its cellphones. The Toronto Star reports.
"Canada's second largest phone company now offers pornographic photos and videos to its customers and confirms it has been receiving complaints from upset customers.
Telus introduced the service in January. In doing so, it became the first wireless provider in the country to offer pornographic photos and videos.
Archbishop Raymond Roussin is upset, saying the move takes the "accessibility of pornographic material further into the public realm."
Roussin told The B.C. Catholic newspaper that the move is especially ill-considered because of the problems pornography is causing in society.
But, said Telus spokesman Jim Johannsson, the company is not breaking the law nor is it providing something that has not been available on cellphones for some time.
"We have the utmost respect for (Roussin's) perspective but the reality is that adult content has been available on cellphones equipped with web browsers for the past several years with no controls of any kind," Johannsson said."
The Permanent Link to this page is: http://www.textually.org/picturephoning/archives/2007/02/014964.htm