Interactive television for the public is not always a good idea and there has been more than one voting by sms swindle on reality TV around the world.
But on Italian television recently, sms messages took a turn for the sinister when it happened that imprisoned mafia bosses were receiving coded notes from associates via television programs, with Quelli che il calcio topping the list.
The show, with famous host Simona Ventura, allows for live messaging from television spectators with the messages automatically published in the scrolling section at the bottom of the screen.
Italy’s antimafia commission finally twigged to what was happening, which is quite disconcerting for many Italians.
Mafia boss associates were using the messages, of an apparently banal nature, to inform imprisoned bosses of important ’services’ still being carried out for the mafia.
Parliamentary hearings have indicated that this was definitely the case, while the head national prosecutor has instead stated that it is only an hypothesis.
Meanwhile prison guards have been ordered to be extra vigilant in the programs that only a select few mafia bosses are allowed to watch in what is called in Italy ‘carcere duro’ or ‘tough prison’.
We have a better solution, though – how about just switching off the television…?