Deprived and Depraved: Managing Adult Content Delivery

I love my nephew, but he’s a sneaky little thing. He’s too cute and happy to be completely mistrusted — and he knows it. But he’ll be leaving grade school behind this summer and likely any trace of the trustworthiness that remains. From a certain angle he already looks like Alfred E. Newman. And he, like so many teenagers, is addicted – in a one toke over the line sweet Jesus kind of way – to his mobile device.

He’s already been spanked, metaphorically, for racking up too many text messages and downloading a Visa limits-worth of iTunes. Yet still the iPhone is his primary companion.

His poor dad. Knowing what filth and depravity awaits his son’s next online temptation, driven by a force no marketing campaign could ever match — he wisely put parental controls on all the mobile devices in the home.

Unfortunately, Dad likes to ring up the old Ho-Chuck Casino and play a few surreptitious hands of poker or lay a few down on Notre Dame while he waits for his daughter’s Pom squad to finish. That’s tough to do when you have to go in and fiddle with parental controls all the time.

This week, ImpulsePay came to his rescue — or will soon.

ImpulsePay’s age verification system solves this problem with 16 easy keystrokes. It’s like parental controls, but it allows the phone itself and the user to be registered as eligible for content meant for eyes and ears over 18 years old. And it uses SMS-based billing right to the cell phone.

This helps keep adult content providers and adult content buyers happy and secure. It protects both parties, unless one party leaves his phone unlocked as it falls between the cushions of the couch where his son spends the majority of his time.

The point is that the company has come up with a standalone solution to letting adults do as they do while telling their kids to do as they say. Genius. My question is: Does this really need to be a standalone system? Shouldn’t this capability be incorporated into a policy engine or a rating and charging engine?

When the industry first introduced prepay, it required a separate system to handle the billing and notification. And it was a hassle. The introduction of another new network element seems like a step backwards.

The solution is elegant enough — kind of like Helen Hunt in a formal dress. Looks great, but like she’d rather be in her comfies — because it is a secure and simple PIN and password transaction, but it seems redundant. It seems redundant.

Perhaps there is still a window of opportunity for standalone verification systems while we try to keep the window to adulthood closed to mischievous boys like my nephew as we implement full policy management systems. Or, maybe mobile operators will leave this function in the hands of the adult-content providers. It is to the content provider’s advantage after all, to be seen as a legitimate rather than prurient business. So maybe it’s best to let them manage the system.

On the other hand, it might make for good PR if the ISP were seen as the one policing adult content. But can’t we do it without adding another network element?

E-mail me at heyBOSS@vpico.com or click on the comment button below.