half of Chinese mobile phone users text message spammed by an American company

Hmmm this is an interesting story - US-owned advertising companies sending commercial messages to the Chinese. It's like the trade situation - the equipment is made in China but a lot of the added value content is made elsewhere. ;)

"HONG KONG -

Beijing vowed to quell mobile phone spam messages on Sunday after seven advertising companies including Nasdaq-traded Focus Media were discovered to have sent commercial messages to practically half of China's population of cell phone users without their consent.

...

Beijing's actions to crack down on spam messages came after a CCTV program revealed that advertising firm Focus Media Holding (nasdaq: FMCN - news - people ) possessed personal information pertaining to more than 200 million Chinese cell phone users, accounting for nearly half of the country's 555 million mobile phone subscribers. Focus Media and six other online advertising firms were said to have transmitted junk messages to mobile phone users through the two principal network operators.

The issue caused a furor among the Chinese public, many of whom expressed concern that their private information might have been exchanged without their consent. Regulation to protect privacy is absent in China."