Mobile phone porn pushers arrested

Two men have been arrested by Japanese police for developing miniature websites with pornographic content that could be downloaded via mobile phones.

According to reports on English language Japanese news service Mainichi Daily News, the men were arrested in connection with the distribution of obscene images viewable through NTT Communications' iMode phones.

iMode is a mobile internet platform that is getting good press for delivering a richer internet experience than Wap. Unlike Wap, iMode enables viewing of HTML web pages on mobile handsets.

Kazuo Toge, aged 31, allegedly created the website with the pornographic images, and 36-year-old Yoshimasa Tanebe is suspected of making hundreds of thousands of yen selling the images to iMode users who subscribed to the service.

Industry experts said similar situations are likely to occur with the adoption of Wap technology.

Nad Nadesan, marketing director of mobile internet developer Peramon, said: "There are already instances where people are transmitting pornographic messages by SMS [short message service]. However, there are not many Wap handsets today that can see pictures. But it can happen and probably will. God help us when we have 3G [third-generation mobile services]."

He added: "In Japan, iMode is under the control of DoCoMo, and they will have terms and conditions of what can and can't be done. It will be up to the internet service providers to regulate this, in the same way that the wired internet is regulated today."