Sim Card Registration Laws

At Comparitech, we`ve looked at a number of factors to determine where SIM card registrations are most invasive in the world. This includes whether biometrics are required in the registration process, whether the data is stored by providers or shared with government agencies, what is required (or not) for law enforcement agencies to have access to that data, how long the data is retained, and whether data protection laws protect that information. Juniarto is less defeatist. „I think it`s not too late,” he said. There are ways to influence governments when they are required to require registration, to apply methods that help maintain people`s cybersecurity without compromising their rights or depriving them of their rights. He cited Estonia as an example of a country that has been a major innovator in digital governance without going too far when it comes to linking government ID cards to phone SIM cards. Countries that currently have biometric registration laws are Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Benin, China, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela. Those in the planning phase of biometric adoption are Jordan, Lebanon, and Liberia. In Mozambique, subscribers can give their fingerprints if they do not have sufficient identification. In China, SIM card registration is combined with real name registration for online accounts and services. For example, if you sign up for a social media account or chat app, you`ll need to provide your real name and phone number. Combined with SIM card enrollment, the policy prevents anyone from creating anonymous accounts online or communicating secretly. Despite growing evidence that mandatory SIM card registration is expensive, intrusive and not the solution to the problem that most countries are trying to solve, more and more governments are trying to introduce it every year.

The majority of national governments (around 150) require mandatory SIM card registration, which means you`ll need your real name and personal information to sign up for phone service. To what extent is mobile phone use private in different countries? And how do governments use the data collected? MANILA, Philippines — Text spam and fraudulent messages may soon be a thing of the past once the law requiring the registration of Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs) cards goes into effect. + Second ID such as driver`s license, ID card, etc. may be required. To conduct this study, we used various sources (listed below) to determine whether SIM card registration is mandatory or not. We then took a closer look at each country`s laws to find out how this data was used, stored, retrieved, etc. In the absence of laws protecting registration data, personal data could be disclosed to third parties. These may include, for example, advertisers, other governments or tax collection agencies. This exposes the data to a higher risk of theft and misuse. There are no laws or regulations established in these regions that require registration to purchase and use prepaid SIM cards. Cantillas warns that the same could be in stock for the Philippines, which has around 150 million active SIM cards.

Weeks before the national elections in May, the electoral commission confirmed a data breach in its system. In 2016, voter information of more than 70 million Filipinos was also leaked. SIM cards that are not registered within this period will only be automatically deactivated and reactivated after compliance with the law. Offenses punishable under RA 11934 include failure or refusal to register a SIM card; breach of confidentiality, whether intentional or negligent; Use false or fictitious information or identities or fraudulent identifiers when registering SIM cards; spoofing a registered SIM card; Sell a stolen SIM card and sell or transfer a registered SIM card without respecting the required registration. This table provides a summary of the countries where registration is required and, if applicable, where visitors need to go to register their SIM cards and what they need to bring. Although some countries do not require registration, but individual telecom companies do, this page focuses more on places where mandatory SIM card registration is enshrined in national laws or regulations. In most cases, registration is done at the point of purchase, which means that you register the SIM card at the same time as the purchase (and therefore need identification at that time), but in other cases, you may need to complete the registration yourself or go online. Last month, the personal data of more than one hundred million Indonesians was leaked. The country introduced SIM registration in 2018 and has since battled a series of hacking fiascos. Mandatory SIM card registration is another way for government and industry to create identity systems to manage, govern and meet their needs. In turn, they are used to facilitate targeting, profiling and surveillance.

It is important to limit the purposes for which an identity system is built and used. + independent mobile phone shops selling SIM cards In addition, Spain recently conducted a major study on its citizens` phone tracking data in order to improve its public services. Although this data has been „anonymized,” it still shows how intrusive governments can use the mobile data provided to them. It was also suggested that the data was used in violation of privacy laws, as people did not give their consent for the government to use the data. This is the particular concern of those who oppose the mesh data search that accompanies mandatory SIM card registration: that what could theoretically be excused as a legitimate reason for collecting information be used to suppress dissent and, worse, shared among law enforcement agencies to allow harassment of those the state deems a threat. The mandatory registration of the SIM card and the associated data – from passport numbers to call logs to home addresses – can then be used to create huge databases.