Some telephone users subjected to "calling-you-to-death" - an automatic system that makes continuous calls to numbers listed on illegal advertisements - have been diverting the calls to emergency hotline "110" to avenge the government-instituted punishment, reports Southern Metropolis News.

Guangzhou officially launched the "calling-you-to-death" tactic on October 17, a measure that has helped curb the number of illegal advertisements being posted or written on public surfaces in hard-to-clean ink in other mainland cities. By keeping the telephone lines permanently engaged, the system renders the illegal advertisements useless.

The system worked well for the first few days.

Most offenders subjected to "calling-your-to-death" cancelled their telephone service, said an urban administration official.

But some of the craftier ones started using a call-diverting function to make trouble for the government.

Some even diverted the constant automatic calls to the "110" hotline, he added.

At an inter-departmental government meeting it was decided that the blacklisted numbers would be reported to telephone companies so that their call-diverting functions could be suspended. And the telephone companies have been authorized to end the service to users who divert calls to key government numbers.

However, some legal experts question whether the mandatory termination of telephone service constitutes a violation of citizens' rights.

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