Indonesia to broadcast general election information via SMS

Indonesia will broadcast the information of 2009 general election that scheduled on April 9 via SMS to around 155 million cell phone users nationwide. Xinhuanet reports.

According to the spokesman of Indonesian Communication and Information Ministry Gatot S. Dewabrata, a total 162 million phone numbers will receive election messages via SMS, consisting of 135 million cell phone numbers and 27 million wireless fixed phone numbers. The spokesman said that some SMS subscribers own more than one cell phone and wireless fixed phone number.

Indonesia's governments has used text messaging on a massive scale before, In 2005, Indonesia's health ministry launched a hotline to let the public report disease outbreaks and lodge complaints about health care using mobile phone text messages.

Obama texts warn of parking, train problems

President Barack Obama's aides sent text messages to tens of thousands of people about crowd control, public transportation and even the weather Tuesday as he took the oath of office and immediately started building another massive technology-based list of supporters. Cellular News reports.

As a million visitors made their way toward Obama's noontime inauguration, aides worked with local officials, Washington Metro officials and military aides to send quick messages to the phones.

It was the latest move from Obama's technology team to connect with supporters.

Just minutes after taking office and stewardship of the White House Web site, Obama started to build another list — this time using official government resources — to keep people updated about his administration's efforts. His advisers see that list — and his 13 million person political list — as ways to harness public sentiment to outflank troublesome opponents, news organizations and rival interest groups.

Image from The Washington Post.

Sign up for Inauguration Updates by SMS

The Presidential Inaugural Committee is offering Text Message updates on Inauguration Day.

On January 20th, Barack Obama will be sworn in as president. US citizens can Text HISTORY to 56333 to sign up for updates on how they can be a part of this historic moment wherever they are.

Cellphones put to 'unnerving' use in Gaza

To the suicide vest, the rocket and the battering ram, those longtime staples of conflict in the Middle East, add the cellphone. USA Today reports.

Both sides in the Gaza war have employed cellphones as a form of psychological warfare, among other purposes — part of a trend toward using new media in a century-old conflict.

Hagar Mizrachi, a 25-year-old Israeli, recently received a text message that said rocket attacks on all of Israel's cities were imminent. The message was signed "Hamas" and the sender name was listed as "Qassam.hamm," he said. Qassams are rockets that Hamas militants have been firing from Gaza into southern Israel. "It's unnerving to receive something like that," said Mizrachi, an editor at an online news service. "It feels like they've invaded you."

Yaniv Levyatan, a psychological warfare expert at the University of Haifa, said cellphones are a natural tool since soldiers and militants are generally young and have grown up using them. Israel and Gaza are both small, densely populated areas blanketed by wireless service, making the phones' use even more effective, he said.

Obama campaign manager talks new media

Scott Goodstein ran all the text-messaging and mobile communications for the groundbreaking campaign. LA Times Kate Linthicum recently talked to him in detail about the campaign's new-media strategy.

Excerpts from the Q&A related to text messaging:

Is text-messaging geared to a certain niche?

It obviously skews younger. But 262 million Americans are using mobile phones. That's roughly 84% of the total population. It's one of the fastest-growing industries in the U.S.

And with the decline of TV viewership audiences, I think it's a must for campaigns to be using mobile technology. It's the only device that's truly with people for 15 to 24 hours a day.

Norwegian doctor's SMS alerts from Gaza spread in Europe

Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert arrived one week ago in the Gaza Strip to assist Palestinian healthcare providers as the Israeli offensive drags on. With information limited in the Strip due to an Israeli ban on reporters in the territory, Gilbert has been sending SMS messages that are being forwarded to cell-phones throughout Europe. His messages have become an invaluable accounting of the dire medical situation in the Strip.

... His original text messages to a colleague eventually made headlines in northern Europe.

One message read obtained by MENASSAT read: “We are swimming in death, blood, and amputated victims. Many children. Pregnant women. I've never experienced anything so awful.”

In the SMS, Gilbert also claimed that Gaza's main vegetable market had been bombed on Monday morning, killing 20 people and injured 80.

[via Menasset. Image from the BBC]

SMS (Solidarity Message For Sederot)

Justin Oberman on Personal Democray Forum reports on the conflict in the Middle East and how mobile technology is now being used to rally people around the world during those 15 seconds.

As rockets fired by Hamas continue to fall into the Israeli city of Sederot where countless of innocent victims have 15 seconds to find shelter and or find their children and loved ones.

The National Council of Young Israel has set up a service called SMS Sderot or (Solidarity Message For Sederot). When the Tzeva Adom (Code Red) siren in sounded in Sederot, SMSSEDEROT will send you a text message that will read:

A Kassam Rocket has just been launched at Sderot. You have: 15 seconds to read Psalm 130. 15 seconds to give to charity 15 seconds to call the UN, the White House, your Senators and Congressman. 15 Seconds to pause and pray for the people of Sderot.

Gaza aggressors kiss cell phones goodbye

The Israeli army has forbid its soldiers taking part in Operation Cast Lead from making cell phone calls amid all-out aggression in Gaza. press TV reports.

Six hours before the Israeli ground incursion into Gaza on Saturday, thousands of infantry and armored forces were ordered to hand over their cell phones, an official has told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The order was "to keep the impending attack secret", an Israeli official was quoted as saying.

Obama to webcast and text message inaugural ball

On inauguration night, Barack and Michelle will make their first stop – and dance their first dance – at a ball that will be Webcast to living rooms and community centers around the country as part of the Presidential Inaugural Committee’s plan to make this the most accessible swearing-in in history. Politico reports.

Some of the tickets will go free to District of Columbia residents, and some will be offered to grassroots supporters around the country.

Planners are borrowing from the house-party concept that the Obama campaign used to bring the excitement of the trail into the homes of grassroots supporters.

... The event, one of 10 official inaugural balls, will be held at the Washington Convention Center.

The Presidential Inaugural Committee is calling it “the premiere event” of the night, and trying to validate that by making it the new president’s first stop.

“The ball will also feature a robust interactive component, including webcasting and text messaging,” the committee said in its announcement. “The PIC will release more details soon about using technology to allow Americans who are attending neighborhood balls across the country to participate actively in this celebration.”

Text messages and phone calls add psychological aspect to warfare in Gaza

Text messages and phone calls add psychological aspect to warfare in Gaza Hamas fires threatening text messages at Israeli mobile phones while Israel bombards Palestinians with menacing phone calls. The Guardian reports.

Israel and Hamas have mounted psychological warfare on each others' civilian populations. Hamas says it is firing threatening text messages at Israeli mobile phones and jamming radio stations while Israel is bombarding Palestinians with menacing phone calls and leaflets.

"The messages say that the Palestinian resistance missiles will reach you wherever you are and your government won't be able to protect you," said Abu Mujaheid, spokesman for the Palestinian Resistance Committees.

Hamas says it can send up to 70,000 text messages but so far there have been reports of just dozens. "[Israel is] sending text messages and interrupting Palestinian radio and trying to scare Palestinians with their messages so we are running a counter campaign by sending text messages to Israelis," Mujaheid said.

Read full article. Image from the FT.

Related: - Israeli's use phone, SMS to warn Gazans of bombs

Israeli's use phone, SMS to warn Gazans of bombs

According to Monsters and Critics, the Israeli Army has launched 'roof knocking' operations by which the occupants of the buildings in Gaza they about to bomb are warned beforehand.

Warnings, issued by telephone, voicemail or SMS, were intended as a means of limiting civilian casualties in the conflict, the Haaretz newspaper said. Civilians were given 10 minutes to leave the premises.

Milk firms say sorry via SMS

A text message purporting to be from the dairy firms at the heart of China’s tainted milk scandal and widely circulated apologized for the damaged wreaked on the nation’s babies, reports The Times.

"We express deep sorrow, sincerely apologise, beg for forgiveness for the damage inflicted on children and society by the tainted milk powder," it said. "(We) are determined to use this as a warning to put an end to substandard products."

The message, received by several AFP reporters, claimed to be from 22 Chinese companies found to have sold the tainted milk, including Sanlu, whose former boss was put on trial Wednesday.

China’s milk scandal came to light in September and has had nationwide repercussions with at least six children dying and nearly 300,000 suffering from kidney and urinary problems after they drank milk tainted with melamine.

Thai PM Spams Citizens with SMS

According to Tom's Hardware, Newly elected Thai Prime Minister decided to spam the entire nation of Thailand right before the holidays.

Abhisit Vejjajiva was elected the Prime Minster of Thailand on December 15,2008 and was formally emass SMS messagesndorsed by the Thai King on December 17,2008. As one of his first official acts as the political leader of the country was to send to a large portion of the nation’s mobile phone users.

He had assigned the deputy leader of the Democratic Party to enlist the help of three cellular network providers in sending out a message to all their subscribers. The message was a plea for help from the Prime Minister for assistance in solving the country's political crisis.

There was no cost associated with the reception of this message but it did urge those interested to respond with their postal codes at a cost of three baht ($0.10 USD). The massive spam message has already caused critisism from organizations such as the Foundation for Consumers, a similar body to the FCC.

SMS Restored In Kashmir

After a five month ban text messaging has been turned back on in Kashmir, reports 160characters.org.

Confirming the lifting of ban, principal secretary, home, Khursheed Ahmad Ganai said, “We have withdrawn our earlier order banning the SMS services because we feel the suspension is no longer required.”

The service was closed down in August after it was alleged that some Hindu right wing activists were using SMS to spread rumours following the Amarnath land transfer controversy.

Estonia to Elect Politicians Using Mobile Phones

In 2011, Estonians will be able to elect their representatives using cellphones, writes Gizmodo.

Raul Kaidro, who is the spokesman of the SK Certification Center in Estonia, says that it will be easy and secure: The voters will just need to previously obtain a free authorized chip. This chip will have an encrypted digital signature, which will allow them to identify themselves and vote using a text message.

The mobile voting will not be the only way to vote: It will be an additional method to online and on-site voting, all of them connected to a central database for instant identification and registration of the vote.

Image from Vilhelmkonnander.

emily | 9:52 AM | permalink

SMS: Wear white on Monday

Across India, SMS are being sent asking everyone to wear 'white clothes' on Monday as a sign of solidarity with those who lost their lives in the terror attacks in Mumbai. ZeeNews reports.

"Hey Indians, we all strongly condemn the attacks in Mumbai. In order to show our solidarity to the one billion strong population of India and to mourn the large scale loss of lives, please wear white on Monday (1st December) to your work/study place. This is a nation-wide request as this is the least we can do to show that we care and also to show that we are one. Nobody can divide us. Keep up the spirit of being Indian! Spread the word."

Image from MSNBC (2006)

President 2.0

Much has been written this week about President-elect Barack Obama having to give up his Blackberry once he's president. He doesn't have to, but Newsweek explains why he should.

Statutes say that any official correspondence from the president becomes property of the office, not the man in it. The rules were drafted at a time when the president's sole communication was on paper, and there wasn't that much of it.

But now, with things like e-mail and instant messaging, the most mundane messages from or to Obama would become government property, and much of it would eventually be accessible to the public under the Freedom of Information Act.

For this reason, Obama earlier this month started to wean himself from his BlackBerry. If he wanted to, he could choose to keep it. But if he did, he'd have to acknowledge that a historian decades from now could study just how much time the president spent bantering with pals or gushing about the White Sox.

"He'll be restricted by how much information about him will become public property," says Lawrence Lessig, founder of the Center for Internet and Society at Stanford. "This is an area where the statutes are far out of date for the current technology."

Security officials also worry about Obama using the device for official business, fearing a hacker could gain access to internal deliberations.

Iran: SMS Use Regulated

The mullahs' regime has imposed new regulations on SMS use in the country according to the Resistance sources inside Iran, reports Cellular News.

In the latest move to regulate its use, the Organization of Communications Regulations has putout new laws imposing restrictions on sending SMS. For a typical cell owner, he has to go through security checks by the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) to receive clearance for using the service.

Sending SMS deemed contrary to national security will be punishable by law. Any change of address by the subscriber of the service must be reported promptly to the relevant authorities. It is the security agents who decide which SMS are in breach of national security.

The State Security Forces (SSF) - mullahs' suppressive police - has random checks in the streets to catch the violators. In a case, a man was arrested on random checks at a bus station in downtown Tehran for having sent a picture of a bus not fit for passenger use on Friday.

This article was originally published by the National Council of Resistance of Iran.

Paving the path to the White House, one text message at a time

160characters looks into the way text messaging played a key role in reaching voters in this presidential election and how Obama used the mobile medium in innovative ways. Excerpts:

Whereas McCain used mobile phones for traditional telephone canvassing, Obama turned to the medium of messaging to promote new speeches, important TV appearances and major rallies. If he was campaigning in your area, he’d let you know.

Innovatively the campaign also had the foresight to register a common short code (CSC) that numerically represents the word ‘Obama’ (62262). This code was used during the mobile message alert opt-in process and delivered subscribers issue-specific updates on subjects such as health care policy, education, and the war in Iraq.

Obama’s mobile campaign has been one that has worked at every stage.

Text messaging has proved to be a powerful tool in getting American voters to the polls. It has reinvented the “get-out-the-vote” machines and at $1.26 per voter, has also proved a more cost effective alternative to traditional campaigning methods, such as automated calls and door-to-door canvassing (which cost around $20-$30 per voter).

... Text message reminders to new voters increased an individual’s likelihood of voting by close to 5 percentage points. This is an increase similar to ‘quality phone call’ reminders but at a fraction of the cost.

Read full article.

Obama Counts on Text Messages to Drive Turnout of Youth, Blacks

Barack Obama's campaign is counting on a potent new weapon for Election Day: the humble cell-phone text message. Bloomberg reports.

Texting may do for the Democratic presidential candidate what arm-twisting precinct captains did in years past: prod millions to get out and vote. The Obama campaign plans to use the millions of cell-phone numbers it has amassed over the past 22 months to blast its supporters with that message today.

The biggest concern for the Obama campaign is getting young people -- who have registered in record numbers and shown unprecedented interest in surveys -- to turn out. In 2004, only 45 percent of those under 30 showed up to vote, according to Census data, making them just 16 percent of the electorate that year.

... Studies show that texting is among the most effective and cheapest ways of getting supporters, particularly blacks, Hispanics and younger voters, to the voting booth.

Photo of a line of voters stretched around the corner at a polling place this morning from The New York Times.

Campaign Calls to Cellphones Invade Privacy, Voters Say

Last-minute campaign calls are increasingly targeting cellphones, frustrating voters who say their privacy is being violated through political telemarketing to their personal mobile devices.

Telemarketing to cellphones was outlawed in 2003 so as to not penalize consumers, whose plans often require they pay for minutes. But an exemption in the law lets political candidates call people.

[via The Washington Post]

Thumbs Up to Voting: Tech Tools Reach Youth

Four years and a lifetime ago, texting, YouTube and social networking sites weren't factors in the presidential race. Now they provide a nonstop and flexible avenue for campaigns and outside groups to broadcast their messages to young voters, whose transient lifestyles can make them harder to reach than others. Above, Old Dominion University student Josh Redmond follows the campaign using Facebook and text messages.

[via The Washington Post]

Where Do I Vote? via txt Message

In partnership with CREDOmobile and the New Organizing Institute Mobile Commons are now providing polling place locations via txt message.

text pp then your street address and zip to 69866 (eg: pp 101 market st 94105)

Their system will respond with the appropriate polling place for your address, or the number for the Election Protection Coalition if they can’t find a match.

[via e-mail press release]

Text Sarah Palin via digital billboard

The CA Democractic Party rented a digital billboard across from the Sarah Palin rally at LA’s Home Depot Center, where users can text questions to be displayed on the board. [via Online Video Watch]

To submit a question for our electronic billboard, text the keyword ASK then the question to the number 69866

For example, send to 69866: ASK You said you’d run a respectful campaign on the issues, what happened?

Keep your questions under 160 characters including spaces and remember to keep them family friendly since we’re showing them in public.

Voting info on your phone

Interest in the upcoming U.S. elections is at an all-time high, so it's important for people to know how to register to vote.

has updated m.google.com/elections with information for each state about voter registration, early voting, and state voter hotlines. On phones with full web browsers, like the iPhone, you can also get all state online resources including complete online registration forms.

[via Google Mobile Blog]

Beyond the Mobile Hype In Election '08

Following the hoopla about the "first ever VP announcement by SMS" launched by the Democratic party, here's an interesting and thoughtful article by Justin Oberman for techPresident reminding us how mobile phones have been used politically before with a far greater viral reach and, in the end, impact.

Oberman begins with text book case of "the Second People Power Revolution" that occurred in the Philippines in 2001 - whereby the people's text messaging toppled a a government - and follows up with other examples from around the world. And you can find even more examples in this blog's " SMS and Politics" category which has been following the impact of politics and text messaging for nearly ten years.

I'm glad he Justin wrote this paper, I too was irritated by e-mails from marketing managers suggesting I schedule a talk time with their company president to discuss how Obama's text messaging idea was unique and how in the future SMS was to become "a new wave of communications for the political sphere". Sometimes, US marketers lack perspective and a knowledge of history.

UN Calls for SMS Campaign on the International Day of Peace

The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has issued a call for a worldwide SMS campaign to mark the International Day of Peace, to be observed on 21 September. This year, the International Day of Peace takes on special meaning, as it is also the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

To mobilize people around the world, the United Nations is launching a text messaging campaign

[via Cellular News]

Zambians use SMS to mourn president's death

A number of SMS codes were set up at radio and television stations in Zambia to allow thousands of people to send text messages mourning the death of President Levy Mwanawasa last August 19. NetworkWorld reports.

"... Mourners were able to send their text messages of condolence to radio and television stations. As stations suspended regular programming to feature reflections on Mwanawasa's life, the messages from mourners ran across television screens and were read aloud on radio."

Obama Transforms Convention Into Recruiting Machine for Voters

When 76,000 people pack Denver's Invesco Field tomorrow to hear Senator Barack Obama's acceptance speech, they'll be called on to get to work. Bloomberg reports.

"The campaign is asking them to text-message friends and urge them to sign on as supporters of the Democratic presidential candidate. It's part of a drive by Obama's team to leave the national convention with hundreds of thousands of new names to add to a database that already includes millions.

... Once an e-mail or text address is added to the list, the campaign follows up with requests for money, links to campaign videos and requests that people volunteer."

'Obama text' reached 2.9 million, cost $290,000

According to Nielsen Mobile, Barack Obama sent a total of 2.9 million text messages announcing his choice of ice President, reports News.com.

If a carrier charged him 10 cents for each one, according to Nielsen's numbers, his bill would've been $290,000.

The VP message was sent in the late hours of Friday night and is, by many accounts, the single largest mobile marketing event in the U.S. to date," a release from Nielsen read.

"While much has been said of the timing and the scoop by news outlets, Obama's V.P. text-message still ranks as one of the most important text messages even sent and one of the most successful brand engagements using mobile media," Nielsen's report read, adding that an estimated 116 million American use text messaging actively."

UPDATE Comment from Andrew Dumont, VP of Business Development at text messaging company Tatango, on the estimated price the Obama campaign paid for sending out it's VP annoucement by SMS.

"If Obama really did pay five to ten cents per message to send out his VP SMS, the price is outrageous. a text messaging company called Tatango, that offers unlimited shortcode messaging to an unlimited number of contacts for only $29.95/month. With that being said, Obama's "$290,000Text Message" could have been reduced to "Obama's Thirty-Dollar Text Message."

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