'Cheaper voice minutes, perhaps? Please?'

Now that we are on a monthly SMS plan, Shanghaiist is pretty happy with our cell phone situation: Our bill is down, spirit is up, and our social calendar is packed as ever — maybe the last two items don’t have that much to do with China Mobile, now the world’s largest wireless company. But, apparently not everyone is enamored with the mobile communication behemoth as we are. One person in particular has gone out of his way to make his displeasure heard, or seen, in this case. If you visited China Mobile’s homepage around 9 am yesterday (September 11) morning, instead of the usual menu of services, you would have seen a line of giant glowing red text set against an eerily black background. The text, in Chinese read “恳请移动的话费能便宜点不”, or “Cheaper voice minutes, perhaps? Please?”, signed “Hackedby935fa12ec828a3f3”. In addition to the mild mannered, and not entirely unreasonable request, Mr. Hacker also knocked out a few China Mobile affiliate websites. All attacked sites were restored in a few hours.

So far, China Mobile hasn’t commented on the breach, calls to customer service reps received the usual “we aren’t aware of any such attack” treatment.

Here at Shanghaiist, we, while holding our tongue in cheek, are heartened by such bold action, a rare display of civic mindfulness in China against an entrenched state-controlled duopolistic entity. But, rates are, in all fairness, pretty low as it is. Maybe the guy just hasn’t read Shanghaiist’s mobile phone guide? Gotta be. Well then, what are you waiting for Mr. Hacker, knock yourself out!

More info is available at Sohu.com (in Chinese)