Tuesday, February 05, 2008

SMS opens public toilets in Finland

From BoingBoing

To unlock the door of one of the roadside toilets along Finland's freeway system, you now have to send it a text message with your mobile phone. The toilets have been secured, and a sign outside explains that the user just sends the word "open" (in Finnish) to a short code and the door will be unlocked remotely. The company managing the service will keep a short term record of all users phone numbers, simply so that if the toilet is then damaged by criminals, they can be traced by the police.

"Open"? That's all? Such a wasted opportunity for creative scatology. Why not "got2P" for example? Oh wait, that one only works in English. How many characters do you suppose there are in the Finnish word for "open"?

IfGodforbid your phone is out of battery or something, you'll have to use the big bathroom.

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