1,600 Dirty words banned from text messages in Pakistan

mobile-phone.jpgEmbarrassing stories from the likes of Christiano Ronaldo, Scarlett Johansson and Vernon Kay prove that dirty images, sexts and general smuttyness on your mobile phone is always a little bit dangerous. But soon any kinds of remotely naughty words (and plenty that aren’t) are going to be banned in Pakistan.

According to PCMag, more than 1,600 dirty words and phrases are soon to be completely banned from text messages by The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA). Carriers in the country have been given a long list of dirty words and phrases (as well as a range of others that are rather puzzling) and have then been told they have a matter of days to make sure they’re all blocked or they could face serious legal action.

Words on what is allegedly the list include lots of dirty terms (go have a look and try not to giggle like a 10 year old), as well as some that seem a little silly to ban, like “barf” and “lotion.”

On a more serious note, it doesn’t set a good example to young teens that the word “condom” is considered a banned word, does it?

An official from one of the carriers in question told the AFP:

“There are more than 1,600 words in the list including indecent language, expletives, swear words, slang etc, which have to be filtered. The filtering is not good for the system and may degrade the quality of network services — plus it would be a great inconvenience to our subscribers if their SMS was not delivered due to the wrong choice of words,”

Go see what Twitter thinks by searching for the hash tag: #PTABannedList.

[Via Wired Via PCMag Image via Dominic Syka’s Flickr]
Becca Caddy