Cell phone spam widespread in China

A China Internet Society study has suggested 6.25 percent of cell phone users in the country receive spam text messages more than 40 times a week.

The survey of 4,721 randomly chosen cell phone users across the country also found 35 percent of respondents receive between five and 10 spam messages every week, and 15 percent receive between 10 and 20, China Daily reported Monday.

The unsolicited messages include advertisements, scams, information on illegal businesses and promotion of short message services, the newspaper said.

The survey found 61 percent of those polled have informed supervisory departments about the problem and only about half know how to unsubscribe to the spam messages.

"Such a limited number of complaints will not help change the existing situation," said Huang Chengqing, secretary general of the China Internet Society.

China's Ministry of Information Industry said the number of cell phone users in the country had reached 449 million at the end of October, marking an increase of 56 million over figures at the end of 2005.

Copyright 2006 by United Press International