Registration targeted for prepaid cell phone SIM cards

TXTPower.org, a Philippines-based advocacy for cell phone users and "netizens," posted a blog denouncing governmental efforts to force prepaid mobile phone users to register subscriber identity module (SIM) cards as a crime deterrent.

"In theory, SIM card registration is attractive and seems to be a good option," the TXTPower blog said. "But, upon closer study, it is not a smart thing to do. Criminals always want to be steps ahead and we predict they could easily go around the system through the use of lost, fake and stolen IDs to register SIM cards, like what they have done in many countries where authorities also gave their citizens false hopes."

According to TXTPower, in countries where SIM card registration is mandatory, as is the case in African countries, authorities have reported a rise in identity theft, and criminals using stolen or lost IDs to circumvent SIM card registration laws.

Recently, a senator in the Philippine government began pushing for the mandatory registration of SIM cards in the wake of a Makati City bus bombing that killed five people. A cell phone was reportedly the bomb's triggering device.

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