Bill will ensure all cellphone users are identified

[Eugene]

The Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Amendment Bill, which aims to tighten up laws that allow the police to monitor electronic communications, has been tabled in Parliament.

The Bill will ensure that physical addresses registered by providers correspond to clients' cellphone users. Service providers are expected to be asked to provide a system of information storage, giving full names, identity numbers and address to all subscribers. Any provider of telecoms must verify the details of their clients within 12 months, notes Business Report. These include the MSISDN number; the cellphone number; the cellphone handset number; and the IMSI number, which is a number allocated to a SIM card for identification purposes. This detail must also correspond to the client's identity number. This broadens the scope of what is an identity number. In addition, foreign visitors will need to inform authorities of their cellphone details and passport numbers or risk their service being blocked.

Full details: http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fS...icleId=3991526

[Dave A]

Here is a bit more from the same article that I found relevant:

The amendment bill also requires that cellphone owners must inform the service provider when they pass on their phone or SIM card to someone outside their immediate family.

Family members are defined as biologically, statutorily, customarily or religiously connected to a person. They can include a life partner or a caregiver in the case of an orphan.

While the aim is to crack down on crime, the information that must be kept by providers does not include content, but the origin and destination of communication, the phone used and its location at the time, and the duration of the call.

[Eugene]

The MSISDN number on your cellphone could be obtained by pressing:

* # 0 6 #

A 15 digit code will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your
handset. Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. When your phone get
stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They
will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief changes the
SIM card, your phone will be totally useless.

[leuce]

These include the MSISDN number; the cellphone number; the cellphone handset number; and the IMSI number, which is a number allocated to a SIM card for identification purposes.

I hope it doesn't become illegal to put your SIM card in another phone. I have more phones than SIM cards, and some of my SIM cards aren't in phones.

[Dave A]

I seem to recall some excitement around the original legislation, and I'm not sure these amendments will solve the difficulties.

One of the problems as I recall was the rate at which service providers would have to catch up with the additional details required from their existing base of pay-as-you-go clients.

The other concern, and one that I still have some reservations over, is the alleged ability to block the stolen phones.

Having had a fair number of cell phones stolen over the years, both personally and from folks I know, I've diligently reported these thefts and had the phones blocked. And I hope most folk who suffer from this do the same.

And yet cell phone theft remains a rampant problem. Are people really that short of paperweights? Or is the blocking system not that effective?

[duncan drennan]

And yet cell phone theft remains a rampant problem. Are people really that short of paperweights? Or is the blocking system not that effective?

I've also wondered about this and can only come up with two things, (1) the cellphones are exported to other networks (i.e. the phone is blocked on SA networks, but works elsewhere), (2) the syndicates have people working for them within the cell phone network operators.