Mixed messages_其他_趣味英语-查字典英语网

Mixed messages

In the past decade, there were two cases, both overturned, that illustrated the progress of our legal protection of private rights. One involved a couple who were busted while watching a sex video in their own home. Another was a man whose cellphone was taken by a policeman and found to contain an explicit video clip. In both cases, the accused were first charged or fined, then exonerated.

If a husband texts his wife, using erotic words, to let her know that he misses her - think Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles - does that warrant the penalty of service suspension? What if the recipients are good friends who share dirty jokes face-to-face? Do they have the right to continue the practice on mobile platforms?

In my understanding, what the law forbids is sexting as a broadcast tool - either for profit or harassment. We should shield minors from such exposure. But outlawing something like a bawdy joke - especially one told in private - is not really feasible, and possibly threatens privacy and other rights. The totally politically correct CCTV Spring Festival Gala is sprinkled with these kinds of jokes, but because they are coded and understood only by adults they pose no harm to the young. Likewise, a joke tastefully told - within the context of Chinese ethics - should not be cause for alarm.

Here, I may stand accused of blurring the distinction between graphic depiction of sex with the more innocuous erotic humor. I feel I know where to draw the line. Most people have an instinct about what is appropriate to send to which friend. For a mobile carrier or its regulator to ban certain rights of speech, shouldn't they at least first specify what is forbidden to text?