[3GScottishUser]

From Phonemag.com (31/12/2005):

South Korea to send legal notices to mobile phones

South Korea will begin sending legal notices, including indictments, to people through mobile phones instead of ordinary mail next year.

Jun Dae-jin, an official at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, said trials of legal notices via text and voice messages will begin in January, and full service by mid-year. Jun said prosecutors decided to shift to the electronic service because regular mail takes time and can get overlooked or lost when people change addresses. He also cited privacy concerns with ordinary mail, saying family members and relatives of recipients could potentially see embarrassing legal notices.

Initially, people can request to receive notices on fines and the progress of investigations. When full service begins, all legal notices, including indictments, will be available electronically.

Prosecutors expect to save about $158,000 a year during the trial and $1.18 million if full service is operational, Jun said.

http://www.phonemag.com/index.php/weblog/read_more/20051231south_korea_to_send_legal_notices_to_mobil e_phones/

[Ben]

I heard on the radio that somewhere in the UK they're texting people "Pay Up or Locked Up" or words to that effect in regard to unpaid fines etc. Apparently it's a huge success. It's also rather thuggish!

[3GScottishUser]

Yes and kids who play truant are having texts sent to parents phones to inform them!!!

Progress??

[Ben]

Mhm I guess time will tell. Any uptake in such services is all good for me monitarily, but ethically? It's all a bit 'in your face'. Still, Mobiles are communication devices, not just telephones, so perhaps it's time we started looking towards them as the de facto standard for message delivery.

[Hands0n]

When I were a lad it was the Truant Officer who knocked on the door to let mum know (not that it were I who played truant!). As the years went by yer Ma could expect a phone call from Secretary at the school. So I suppose a Text message is a logical progression and probably a lot easier to automate. I could envisage a time of eRegister call in the morning, resulting in an immediate automated SMS to the folks if you dont call out "Here!" to your name call.

Am I bovvered? Not at the moment, as I can't see the sinister side to all of this electronic messaging of the "You're nicked" style.

I can forsee Videomessaging being used to send Ma and Pa the CCTV of little Johnny breaking the school windows, or bullying.