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Other countries like Singapore and Kenya have been cited to enforce mandatory prepaid SIM card registration much the same as what the bill purports. One of the salient features of this bill is found in Sec. 1, that "government-issued IDs" must be presented to verify the identity of the registrant. In Sec. 2, the bill requires the telecomm company to "record ALL the information of the buyer." (emphasis supplied)
Indeed, the proposed bill has a noble aim of solving the problem with crimes committed using unregistered prepaid SIM cards. However, we also have to consider the costs of going about such regulation. Issues on privacy, security and identity theft, and the overall efficacy of requiring the registration procedure, are the considerations which readily come to mind.
Our country has been known all over to be the texting capital of the world. When subscribers, both present and prospective, are required to register their prepaid SIM (or subscriber identity module), this may turn them off from further using such or altogether not purchasing at all. This then leads to decreased sales and revenue of the telecomms. From an economic perspective, it doesn't make much business sense.
My take on this is that such legislation, if at all to be passed, must in turn be counterbalanced with another regulation safeguarding the security of the information and stifling the chances of its misuse. Without such, the initiative to solve the specified problems on target will surely backfire. This way, the consumers can be appeased, which may also satisfy the bottom-line knack of telecomm companies. Only then will our law be deemed one step further in keeping up with the advance of ICT while at the same time responsive to the civil libertarian values of privacy and security that our society cherishes and jealously guards.
Richmund C. Sta. Lucia, Post #9
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