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News Analysis
Information
overload is the SMS message center concept
E.
Ablorh-Odjidja, Ghanadot
This idea for
“SMS message center,” proposed by the government, is a waste;
or, at best, a money making opportunity for mobile phone
operators.
Wikipedia
says, “Commercially, SMS is a massive industry in 2006 worth over
81 billion dollars globally. SMS has an average global price of
0.11 USD while costing providers almost nothing.”
The
government, in collaboration with the phone companies, may make
money as a bulk receiver of SMS messages in mobile networks
that “charge each other so-called interconnect fees of at least
£0.03….”
But the
monetary profit ends for government when some SMS messages
require responses - at a cost that goes directly from the
public pocket to the coffers of the mobile phone companies.
And this is all because the government of Ghana
wants to be informed about what has gone wrong in the country
via text messages.
Rather than
seeking to know what ails society via the SMS method, the
government should hunt for means to protect the public from the
mobile phone companies by not creating opportunities for them to
make more money.
With a huge
population base of the functional illiterates carrying cell
phones these days, the money making potential from this proposal
is huge. The joy of texting to an authoritative recipient, like
government, can add to the attractiveness of the potential;
never mind whether the message sent can even be read and
understood by the sender.
The irony is
there is no problem out there that is not already known to
government or its officials. And if there is, what is wrong
with bringing it to government’s attention by phone, except we
know this old form of communication has broken down in parts and
there are receptionists at these offices who don’t give a hoot
about who is on the line; so the reason to bring in the modern
SMS version to test for disuse.
What problems
there are have already been exposed in one form or the other.
These are in the streets, in our backyards, in the electricity
supply, the health system, the bribery and the corruption of our
officials - they have been there and are there for sincere
officials to be able take note without first consulting any SMS
screen.
There are
other sources that can help without the SMS center. Talk Radio,
for instance, is constantly being fed by SMS messages. We hear
them read daily on air. Government can pick up some of the
problems by listening to talk radio.
Nothing new
can come out of the SMS concept that cannot be obtained within
the existing structures for information collection; except, if
the government wants to use this center as a tool for reporting on the
average citizen.
As a keeper, archivist, analyst and a categorizer
of all information, the government has already proven its lack
of ability to turn this into constant positive use.
A case in
point is the Land Department, an archive for our most precious
commodity - land. You only have to ask yourself how efficient
the information retrieval system of this critical government
department is to understand the point here. There have been
instances of records missing in that department, delays and tons of excuses
given for lack of prompt action to retrieve documents on demand.
The
disturbing point to consider here is that the Land Department,
as an archive, has a small client base because very few
Ghanaians have the
means to own land. yet servicing this small base has always
been a problem.
Then consider the SMS center, where the
demand for service can be vast because it takes very little
capital to generate a text by cell phone, Therefore, you
can imagine the flood of text the center can receive with such an
easy access.
Like a “call
in radio station” with no screeners, every crank with a cell
phone and mischief in his heart can reach the SMS center. How
is the government going to manage the information that will
accrue and at what cost?
If "talk radio" were to serve as an example, texts and
calls from
the functional illiterates will block our chances for really useful information. These attention seekers,
for most of the time, will provide useless information but suffer no consequences. They
are likely to be our content providers for the SMS center. The
sad part is we may have to pick up the bill via taxes.
However, in one
sense and one sense only, the SMS Center,
as a tool for
snooping on
citizens, may turn out to be
useful for government.
Send a text
message to the government; about a feigned activity of a
partisan opponent and you can trigger investigation on him
or her and thus kick start the “big brother” thing. Knowing the
persecution mentality of party bosses in government, you would
get officials rushing to settle score before they get to consider the damage a report without merit
can do to a targeted citizen.
This SMS
center, right now, can be considered as an attempt to get the
public to spy on itself and, therefore, could be an infringement on the
liberties assured by the constitution of the Republic.
E. Ablorh-Odjidja, Publisher
www.ghanadot.com, Washington, DC, September 14, 2009
Permission to publish: Please feel free to publish or
reproduce, with credits, unedited. If posted at a website,
email a copy of the web page to
publisher@ghanadot.com . Or don't publish at all.
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