Prime minister’s wife against phone porn

The wife of Prime Minister Hun Sen has urged her spouse to ban video-capable mobile phones in Cambodia because they can be used to spread obscene images.

Photo: Prime minister’s wife against phone porn

Bun Rany and other senior officials' wives are seeking a ban on third-generation, or 3G, mobile phones, according to a copy of a signed petition seen Thursday.

Phones with 3G technology can receive more digital information than their predecessors and offer features such as high-speed Internet access, high-quality video, and music services.

Many Cambodian women "are very concerned" that some users could use the new technology to spread pornography, Bun Rany said in the petition dated May 19.

Her signature appeared first on the petition, which is addressed specifically to her husband.

Obscene images have "gravely negative consequences for social morality" and could increase "sexual exploitation of women and children and other vices that would cast our society as a very dark one," she said in the petition. It also asked for stern punishment for those who use mobile phones to show "obscene images to serve sexual desire."

Among the 50 signatories were Marie Ranariddh, the wife of royalist Funcinpec party leader Prince Norodom Ranariddh; Anny Sok An, the wife of Deputy Prime Minister Sok An, who is a close confidante of Hun Sen; and Men Sam An, a female minister in Hun Sen's Cabinet.

Post and Telecommunications Minister So Khun said he has heard about the petition but has not seen it yet, and that it's up to Hun Sen to decide what to do.

Alcatel, a French telecommunications firm, announced in February that it will provide a 3G mobile network to CamGSM, a Cambodian mobile phone network. It is not clear yet when the new service would be launched, reports the AP.

I.L.