A new “bully filter” set in place by the largest mobilephone provider in Norway, Telenor, is said to be a great success.
It’s no secret that children and young people can be pretty harsh against each other, but it’s not just in the school yard bullying is happening, but also to a very large extend on the mobile phone, specially in countries where SMS messaging is popular.
Telenor is trying to get rid of that bullying by installing a so called “bully filter”.
The filter works by the one being the victim sets up a filter on the operator’s website, enter the numbers he/she doesn’t want to receive SMS messages from.
If the bully still tries to send a SMS message, he will get a warning back. It’s also possible to store a copy of the SMS message in an e-mail system, so the parents can see it – and possibly take it up with the parents of the bully. Or if it’s really bad, simply contact the police.
The bully filter is primarily intended for children, but also women who are persecuted by e.g. violent ex husbands or celebrities with a stalker, could use the filter.
When we launched the bully filter it was focused primarily on children, and the feedback we have received from parents, also shows that it has been a very well accepted product. But it is equally useful for adults.
– Asle Lessum, information manager at Telenor, Norway.
Telenor in Norway introduced the bully filter in February and so far 1,500 customers signed up for the service.
One problem though; By eliminating the bullying over mobile phones, it could simply get even worse in the school yards, maybe even get physical.
I guess we just have to wait and see, as the bully filter is also on it’s way to Telenor in Denmark.
Although being able to filter SMS messages really is great for a lot of reasons, I agree with your last statement – blocking bullies from doing their bullying remotely might just lead to an escalation of their behavior to doing in person. The threat of the stored copies of the messages might make them turn to another, easier target though, so maybe it will do some good.
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Yeah that’s the thing – what’s going to happen and will it just be passed onto somebody else who will have to put up with even more bullying? I guess we’ll know later.
Nice article. I have heard about filter SMS messages before, but didn’t know if it was effective.
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I honestly believe that cell phones are the next level of everything, I am excited about the creative things they will continue to add to cell phones, especially features like this. Life’s features.
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