Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Big Brother's crackdown on crime

FM has an interesting sidebar in the current issue.

All SIM cards and phones that are sold or given away must have a paper trail: a record of the recipient's name and address and a photocopy (old skool!) of the recipient's ID!

Of course, post-paid (i.e. contract) users already have this in place courtesy of their Service Provider taking down their details to ensure payment.

"The measures are part of a security crackdown on the use of cellphones in crime , security officials say"

I wonder what the penalties for non-compliance are? Gareth, David, Herman: I'm talking to you here! You don't have photocopies of my ID and probably don't know my exact address. And I've got your phones! HAHAHAHAHA. I am a criminal genius!

PS Vodacom wants to use an electronic form for their customer registration. Mmmmm...electronic photocopies...

PPS [For extra credit] How many pre-paid cellphone users are there in South Africa?

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