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The Mobile Minute: Polling Station Locator, Mobile Security Holes, and Nokia Expands its Rural Programs

Today's Mobile Minute brings you the latest mobile news. Mobile Commons helps people find voting stations in the U.S. via SMS, Nokia pushes for rural users, NPR's mobile services win them an Online Journalism Award, and seven out of ten people store sensitive data on their mobile phones – without security measures.

• Today is election day in the United States, so if you want to find out where your nearest polling station is, check out the Mobile Polling Place Locator by Mobile Commons. Text WHERE (for English instructions) or DONDE (for Spanish instructions) to 30644. You'll be prompted to enter your home address, and then be directed to your local polling center.

• The New York Times reported on Nokia's Ovi Life Tools program, which uses basic text messages to transmit market and agricultural data to rural mobile owners. The program has already been successful in India, and now Nokia is gearing up to launch a similar program in Nigeria. 

• At the 2010 Online Journalism Awards Banquet, NPR took the award for Outstanding Use of Emerging Platforms for the organization's work in the mobile field. If you want to read more about NPR and their mobile strategy, check out this case study.

• The BBC reported on a study from security firm Juniper Networks that found bad news for users worried about mobile security: "In its research covering 6,000 participants spread over 16 countries, Juniper found that 61% of all reported smartphone infections were spyware, capable of monitoring communication from the device. A further 17% were text message Trojans that charge fees to a device's account holder." 

[Mobile Minute Disclaimer: The Mobile Minute is a quick round-up of interesting stories that have come across our RSS and Twitter feeds to keep you informed of the rapid pace of innovation. Read them and enjoy them, but know that we have not deeply investigated these news items. For more in-depth information about the ever-growing field of mobile tech for social change, check out our blog posts, white papers and research, how-tos, and case studies.

Image courtesy Flickr user QiFei

Mobile Commons

Human Rights Campaign Launches Info Line on Corporations

Human Rights Campaign, an American NGO focused on gay and lesbian rights, launched a mobile ampaign that allows users to learn about their favorite companies’ inclusiveness policies via text message. Users text in the word “shop” and then the name of a company to receive a text message rating of that company’s policies towards gay and lesbians. (Give the service a whirl: text SHOP and then the name of a company – SHOP KELLOGG, for example – to short code 30644. This service works only in the United States)

Human Right's so-called mData program allows consumers concerned with companies’ policies vis a vis gay and lesbians to get specific information about those companies when they’re considering making a purchase – at a store, while browsing the web, or even when they’re making investment choices.  The data was uploaded in the form of a spreadsheet (in this case, thousands of company-specific ratings).