A newly launched Christian cell-phone network is aiming to be the first in the US to block pornography and LGBT content.
“We are going to create — and we think we have every right to do so — an environment that is Jesus-centric, that is void of pornography, void of LGBT, void of trans,” said Radiant Mobile’s founder, Paul Fisher, to the MIT Technology Review.
The phone network, which is scheduled to launch Tuesday, does not own any cell towers but rather buys bandwidth from T-Mobile, similar to President Trump’s “Trump Mobile” launched last year.
It uses the Israeli cybersecurity firm Allot to sort website domains into more than 100 content categories, blocking all pornographic content.
A new Christian phone network aims to block all pornographic and LGBT content. leungchopan – stock.adobe.com The company also has a default-on filter targeting “sexuality” content, aiming to remove gender-related and LGBT material from every device on the plan.
Fisher — who previously worked as an agent for supermodels such as Naomi Campbell — highlighted how the technology can even block specific sections of websites, such as a page on the Yale University site dedicated to LGBT issues.
“They have a subsection of one of their websites that’s totally focused on, you know, trans equality,” Fisher said of the university.
He said that while www.yale.edu would not be blocked by the service, the specific site lgbtq.yale.edu would be.
“If we see [LGBT content] on the front pages consistently of Yale University, we’ll block them, too,” said Fisher, who also once hosted a reality show in which he tried to turn people living at rehab centers and homeless shelters into models.
Radiant Mobile will target sites that promote LGBT issues. Helayne Seidman “Am I proud that I spent 35 years creating star models or star influencers? Not at all,” he said of his previous work.
A rep for T-Mobile would not comment on whether these blocks violate any of its policies.
The representative only said T-Mobile has no direct relationship with Radiant Mobile, explaining the upstart service will be working through its mobile virtual-network operator manager, CompaxDigital.
Fisher said he hopes that some of his company’s $29.99-per-month subscription rate will eventually be donated to churches that sign up.
He said he has recruited Christian influencers to advertise the plan and wants to take the company global to other majority-Christian countries such as Mexico and South Korea.
The company’s chief operating officer, Orlando minister Chris Klimis, said he wants to “do something” about what he called a pornography crisis within Christianity
He said he was appalled by a recent survey that found two thirds of pastors have a “personal history” with porn and worried that his six children will stumble across adult content on their devices.
“We’ve got to figure out some way to close the door to the digital space. That’s what we’re trying to do,” he said.
