Airwolf
March 25, 2003, 06:30 AM
OMG! Somewhere Orwell must be laughing.
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,4386,179014,00.html
Beep beep! You have broken the law - turn yourself in
BEIJING - Chinese officials are hoping to drive crooks crazy, and make them give up crime, with a relentless barrage of messages sent to their cell phones, state media reported yesterday.
The campaign, launched in east China's Hangzhou city, targets people who paste postcard-sized ads in public places leaving their mobile numbers and offering fake ID cards or academic certificates, the official Xinhua news agency said.
Law enforcers have recorded the numbers and since the campaign started the forgers have received the following message at intervals of 20 seconds, whenever their cellphones have been turned on:
'You have broken the law by posting illegal ads. You must immediately stop this activity and go to the Hangzhou Urban Administrative Bureau for punishment.'
Although the agency said the tactics had proved effective, it did not say how many, if any, had heeded the call to turn themselves in.
Forgers are increasingly using mobile phones and the Internet, forcing law enforcers to embrace high-tech ways themselves, Xinhua said.
The problem of fake certificates has become increasingly serious over recent years.
The hunt for talent, which intensified following China's entry to the World Trade Organisation, has led to a frenzied chase for academic qualifications and an upsurge in cases of forged qualifications.
In some Chinese cities, such as Wuhan, making certificates has already developed into a profitable network. Similar problems are thought to exist in many cities, where a degree is a passport to a better life, but places at universities are few and far between. --AFP
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,4386,179014,00.html
Beep beep! You have broken the law - turn yourself in
BEIJING - Chinese officials are hoping to drive crooks crazy, and make them give up crime, with a relentless barrage of messages sent to their cell phones, state media reported yesterday.
The campaign, launched in east China's Hangzhou city, targets people who paste postcard-sized ads in public places leaving their mobile numbers and offering fake ID cards or academic certificates, the official Xinhua news agency said.
Law enforcers have recorded the numbers and since the campaign started the forgers have received the following message at intervals of 20 seconds, whenever their cellphones have been turned on:
'You have broken the law by posting illegal ads. You must immediately stop this activity and go to the Hangzhou Urban Administrative Bureau for punishment.'
Although the agency said the tactics had proved effective, it did not say how many, if any, had heeded the call to turn themselves in.
Forgers are increasingly using mobile phones and the Internet, forcing law enforcers to embrace high-tech ways themselves, Xinhua said.
The problem of fake certificates has become increasingly serious over recent years.
The hunt for talent, which intensified following China's entry to the World Trade Organisation, has led to a frenzied chase for academic qualifications and an upsurge in cases of forged qualifications.
In some Chinese cities, such as Wuhan, making certificates has already developed into a profitable network. Similar problems are thought to exist in many cities, where a degree is a passport to a better life, but places at universities are few and far between. --AFP