The demand to employ inspectors was made after several incidents in which cellular stores in haredi neighborhoods that claim to sell only kosher devices were caught selling unauthorized devices or were caught tampering with so-called kosher devices to remove Internet and camera blocking code. Those stores had rabbinic supervision but circumvented it – in part because there is no active inspection protocol from the rabbis, the Rabbinical Committee for Communication Affairs claims.
Haredi Rabbinical Committee Wants To Hire Inspectors To Inspect “Kosher” Cellphone Stores
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Think of it like OU Kosher or Badatz Yerushalyim, except the rabbis would be inspecting cellphone stores, not pizza shops and bakeries.
The haredi Rabbinical Committee for Communication Affairs linked to the vehemently anti-Zionist Edah Haredit umbrella organization is demanding Eda Haredit hire inspectors to patrol cell phone stores in haredi neighborhoods to ensure phones or other devices sold are "strictly kosher" - i.e., have no camera and no Internet access, Ynet reported.
The demand to employ inspectors was made after several incidents in which cellular stores in haredi neighborhoods that claim to sell only kosher devices were caught selling unauthorized devices or were caught tampering with so-called kosher devices to remove Internet and camera blocking code. Those stores had rabbinic supervision but circumvented it – in part because there is no active inspection protocol from the rabbis, the Rabbinical Committee for Communication Affairs claims.
This lack of supervision risks creating a breach that would allow stores to regularly sell non-kosher devices under the table, the supporters of hiring cellphone inspectors say, and pashkvils (wall posters) claiming this is in fact now commonplace have been posted in haredi neighborhoods.
"Yeshiva students are seen visiting impure and detestable stores on Bnei Brak's Jabotinsky Street and in the Davidka Square in Jerusalem, buying devices without any supervision and protection," the pashkivils say.
Meanwhile, the Strykow Rebbe and his followers protested outside a cellphone store selling Internet-enabled phones. They stood outside the store for an hour in a bid to convince customers to buy elsewhere.