As Google threatens to pull completely out of China, following allegations that the hack attacks against Google, code named “Operation Aurora” and first disclosed by Google last month, originated at two Chinese universities with strong governmental ties, the Chinese government is trying their own brand of shaping the Internet – by encouraging its citizens to send “red text messages”, also being referred to as “red snippets” and even “red jokes” (although they are not jokes). The Chinese term actually translates as “Red Duan” – ‘duan’ relating to measurement, such as a piece or stretch of time – in other words, a red era. According to authorities in China, the red text message – or red snippet – is intended to facilitate “the spirit of Chinese culture for an Internet age” and to combat the invasion of American culture. In the meantime, Google contemplates pulling out of China altogether after their discoveries in the wake of the Operation Aurora hacks, unless China agrees to allowing uncensored search.

A court in France – which does not have no-fault divorce, so absent an agreement to divorce you must prove that one of the spouses did something bad – has ruled that text messages can now be used as evidence of adultery.

Police say that a hoax in the form of a text message warning women to stay away from Walmart because of a gang initiation requiring women to be gunned down in the Walmart parking lot is a hoax that has been around since at least 2005.

More than 2.5 trillion SMS text messages have been sent from cell phones worldwide this year. This means that text messaging brings in billions of dollars in revenue for the world’s four major cell phone carriers. In fact, it’s estimated that SMS text messaging revenues could even top $165 billion by 2011. (SMS stands for “Short Message Service”.) So, if the text messaging business is so lucrative, why have AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless doubled the pay-per-use-price for messages from 10 cents to 20 cents?

A British doctor working in the Congo has saved the life of a teen by amputating his arm following instructions that were texted to him by a colleague back in the UK.

Just a couple of months ago the deadly MetroLink train crash, which killed at least 25 people in California, was held to be due to the engineer texting on his cell phone while driving the train. Now a high ranking British official is being charged with the death of another motorist, when the car he was driving – while texting – collided with another, killing the other driver.

The Los Angeles Metrolink train crash tragedy at Chatsworth which killed 25 and injured another 130 is being blamed on the engineer’s text messaging SMS messages with a couple of teenage train enthusiasts, causing him to miss a critical red light. The engineer, Robert Sanchez, was among the 25 killed in the crash.