November 17, 2003
SMS could be the politician's new poll brahmastra
Short Messaging Servic is all set to make its debut as a propaganda vehicle in the coming Assembly elections in India. Cellular service providers are willing to offer the service to election candidates to reach out to lakhs of voters simultaneously. However, companies are still debating the ethical aspects of the issue, according to The Times of India.
“Technology is not a problem. We can, theoretically speaking, offer such a service. However, the issue is about acceptability,” the chief operating officer of a cellular company said.
According to industry sources, SMS could be the most effective campaign medium for elections. The candidate can choose to send SMSs to the voters in his constituency. Or a party can choose to send general messages to cellular phone users across the state.
“One can even send multimedia messages, picture cards or poll symbols,” the vice-president (technology) of a cellular company said. However, the companies are wary of resistance from the subscribers. “A cellphone is a personal gadget and any unwanted communication could be seen as an intrusion. We have not decided whether to make this departure in the coming election campaign,” an executive of a cellular service company said “.
The Permanent Link to this page is: http://www.textually.org/textually/archives/2003/11/002275.htm
| Tweet |
