Yesterday, I came across an article on BBC News on the topic of mobile cyber-crime. (By “came across”, I really mean that a dozen people emailed, IM’ed or Twittered the link to me. Thanks everyone… I think?) It’s therefore my duty to write (or pontificate) on the topic.

Among viruses for mobiles what has been growing are trojans that exploit mobile payment systems such as premium rate SMS. One instructive instance of such a malicious program is known as Viver. This was discovered in May 2007 and hides its malicious code inside three fake applications. Installing any one of those bogus applications on a Symbian phone starts that handset sending costly premium rate SMS messages to an international number. Each SMS message costs about $7 (£3.50).

Now, I have a rather unforgiving attitude when I hear things like this; In the same way I rarely consider it “bad luck” when someone ends up with a computer virus, I feel it’s the device owner’s responsibility to make an educated decision on whether or not to download an application. Most people can’t be bothered to use mobile apps, so take-up of apps is low to start off with.

Secondly, it’s probably the only context where I’ll say this, but thankfully the mobile world is so fragmented that there is no one-size-fits-all virus which will infect all phone types in the same way and cause a worldwide outbreak.

To the best of my knowledge, operators use complex fraud detection systems to flag up unusual mobile use, so I’d like to think that, God forbid, there should be an epidemic of mobile viruses, these could be nipped in the bud by the operator’s watchful eye. Unfortunately, I’m not so convinced that when the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing, and entire departments have their collective foot firmly inserted into the mouth, I should trust operators to react swiftly to the problem.

So I suppose it makes this post a plea to all mobile users to be smart about their phone use. The mobile web is an infinitely safer place than the desktop web as far as likelihood of picking up something nasty, but a little bit of common sense goes a long way no matter where you are. You wouldn’t eat an apple if it looked rotten, so why grab an application for your phone from a dodgy-looking mobile website?

Since Friday, Cuba is that little bit freer than it used to be. Raul Castro has lifted the national ban on “computers, video players, all sizes of televisions, pressure cookers, electric rice cookers, electric bicycles and car alarms”, according to the Washington Post article, but most significantly, the ban on mobile phone purchases was lifted.

Some Cubans already own mobile phones, but it was never an easy process and phones were mostly acquired from foreigners. The new system won’t be as easy as walking into a store and picking up a Pay As You Go phone a minute later, since users will have to pay in foreign currency and the average salary is under $20 USD a month, which means only wealthier people are likely to be able to afford it.

Regardless, it’s a step in the right direction, and Cuba isn’t the only one moving towards loosening its tight grip over means of communication. North Korea, where people were once executed in public for owning a mobile phone, is allowing its citizens to carry them again.

As ownership picks up pace over the next few years, we’ll most likely discover new facets of Cuba as citizens begin to exercise their freedom to communicate.

We’re now all home after an eventful week at Mobile World Congress, spent meeting new and interesting people who love the mobile web as much as we do, looking out for new phones and services, and eating great Spanish tapas.

Since launching many new features on Monday, we’ve made the news a few times.

TechDigest says “We’ve been getting excited about Taptu for months now, so it’s fantastic to see they won the Global Community Award at the MoMo Peer Awards last night at the Mobile World Congress, rewarding our confidence in this small English start-up to no end.”

Mike Butcher from TechCrunch UK agreed that “if the future is social search - as many think it is - then the future must also be mobile social search, since the mobile is such a social device.”

Fritz Nelson from Information Week writes about MWC and the lack of innovation since last year. However, he highlights Taptu as one of the mobile service that have caught his attention. “Taptu, a startup based in the U.K., also has a compelling story — perhaps even more so. It builds not only relevance into its results, it brings those results to within a click of accessing. It presents results based on a ranking of social popularity, provides categories (like blogs, news stories, videos), a nifty little summary of the item, and then a one-click way to share it.”

Susi Weaser from Shiny Shiny, writes “It’s good to see that there are people out there who haven’t just accepted Google as the only option when it comes to internet searches. In particular, Taptu have vowed to take on mobile searching, with their easy peasy service.”

Peggy Ann Salz from MSearchGroove posted an article on the new features we launched at MWC, but also interviewed Steve, our CEO, in a podcast about where he thinks mobile search is heading.

The Dutch Cowboys interviewed Steve at the stand, also capturing a bit of the atmosphere of the conference in their video, and Heise Online congratulated us on the Mobile Monday award we received and are very excited about!

Here’s a translation of the Dutch Cowboys’ text for those who, like me, may be Dutch-impaired (kindly provided by Raimo from Mobile Monday Amsterdam)

“The readers of Dutchcowboys know that Search is one of our favourite things. Moreover web 2.0 and Social media play more and more an important role in things we are involved in. For this reason it is a pleasure to hear an entrepreneur and visionary talk about all this even more so that it is happening on your mobile. Closer it cannot get.

Some will think that this is however the millionth promise that search on a cellphone will make it entirely. While the device manufacturers still struggle with the (business)model around mobile search Taptu might have the correct answer. Listen to the passionate Steve Ives who speaks about his social mobile search application Taptu.”