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Pakistanis Must Provide Fingerprints Or Give Up Cellphone
schwit1 sends this report from the Washington Post: Cellphones didn't just arrive in Pakistan. But someone could be fooled into thinking otherwise, considering the tens of millions of Pakistanis pouring into mobile phone stores these days. In one of the world's largest — and fastest — efforts to collect biometric information, Pakistan has ordered cellphone users to verify their identities through fingerprints for a national database being compiled to curb terrorism. If they don't, their service will be shut off, an unthinkable option for many after a dozen years of explosive growth in cellphone usage here.
Prompted by concerns about a proliferation of illegal and untraceable SIM cards, the directive is the most visible step so far in Pakistan's efforts to restore law and order after Taliban militants killed 150 students and teachers at a school in December. Officials said the six terrorists who stormed the school in Peshawar were using cellphones registered to one woman who had no obvious connection to the attackers.
Prompted by concerns about a proliferation of illegal and untraceable SIM cards, the directive is the most visible step so far in Pakistan's efforts to restore law and order after Taliban militants killed 150 students and teachers at a school in December. Officials said the six terrorists who stormed the school in Peshawar were using cellphones registered to one woman who had no obvious connection to the attackers.
Well no, its not a magic cure to the terrorist problem, but i can see how it would significantly hamper the terrorists and criminals. Its not like you can use a sim card registered to your name for dastardly deeds. You could for example use foreign sim cards, but you can bet authorities will be watching these with extra care.
Anyway i don't know about where you live but over here biometric passports and id cards are used, meaning that you give your fingerprints when you apply for an id. So names and fingerprints are already tied. Prepaid sim cards are sold, so in principle you can have a cellphone with nothing linking it to your name, but most people just get contracts with service providers so by and large cellphones and identities are tied.
Indeed it is. If you actually thought about it, if getting a new sim card mandatorily required biometric authentication, there will be a fool-proof system that the said terrorists cannot get SIM card using someone else's name. And since now I cannot blame a flawed system, I will take more care to report a stolen/lost SIM card to authorities and get it disabled.