Mobile porn

Children Down Under may have to look elsewhere if they want to have access to porn on the mobile.

Children Down Under may have to look elsewhere if they want to have access to porn or any other kind of sleaze on the mobile.

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They will now be required to first show a photographed identification and give a request access in writing, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

The Australian Communications Authority has drafted a bill according to which MA or R content will be limited to phone numbers prefixed with 195 and 196, and available only to users aged over 18.

The authority has said that 16 companies, including Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and Legion Interactive, have already reserved adult numbers, and these services cannot be activated until regulation of the area is formalised next year.

Mobile-phone companies will also be required to hire moderators who have undergone a police check and have been trained to spot pedophiles attempting to groom children in unrestricted mobile chat rooms.

"We have seen the dangers of using chatrooms on the internet and we feel the risk will be carried over to the mobile world.The computer at least is in a public space and gives parents a chance to supervise. The mobile is a personal device, so the risk is higher,"Vince Humphries, the authority's manager of mobile content and credit management, was quoted by the paper, as saying.