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Question of the Day: What's the most interesting small town you've visited in South Africa?
Cell users face cut offs
- Thread starter rpm
- Start date
RichardP
Banned
If I am on a 24month contract, and I refuse to divulge my personal information for the register... who is in breach of contract? .. If I am cut off, then I have legal recourse as the provider is not providing the service.
stoke
Honorary Master
LOL ... bwana is a genius ... but ... remember that the banks have your details as well when that identify act came into being, and we all had to trek and show them our forged documents.
So ... it all depends on what the required data is.
[edit :]
name, ID number and address of the consumer.
Now address is the tricky one that will force these cellular operators to force you to come in ... just like the banks had to.
Bleugh.
So ... it all depends on what the required data is.
[edit :]
name, ID number and address of the consumer.
Now address is the tricky one that will force these cellular operators to force you to come in ... just like the banks had to.
Bleugh.
Last edited:
lol dude....RichardP said:
i reckon 12 months is a long time dont you?
damngirl
Active Member
*Yawn*
What about the right to privacy?
The big problem with this legislation (apart from the practicalities of enforcing it) is the issue of personal privacy.
The cellphone networks are able to determine the geographic position of your phone reasonably accurately. It will just be a matter of time before one of the service providers starts mining that information for profit.
I don't want:
A greater overriding concern (for me anyway) is the potential of a gradual migration to a police state.
I don't want to feel like I am constantly being watched. I have a friend that escaped from an eastern bloc country *many* years ago. The stories that he told me were spine-chilling. Ordinary citizens are treated like criminals; treated as guilty until proved innocent.
I know that this may sound a little melodramatic, but a country that gives the authorities implicit permission to track my every movement isn't a place I would like to live.
I am not a criminal. It has been nearly a decade since I even got a parking ticket. So why must I be treated as one? As others on this board have already noted, the real criminals are unlikely to use their registered cellphones while mugging someone, or to coordinate that cash-in-transit heist.
This is a bad piece of legislation.
The big problem with this legislation (apart from the practicalities of enforcing it) is the issue of personal privacy.
The cellphone networks are able to determine the geographic position of your phone reasonably accurately. It will just be a matter of time before one of the service providers starts mining that information for profit.
I don't want:
- People to know where I am all the time
- Marketers to try to sell me their crappy products every time I get near to one of their stores
- Marketers to sell my personal details to other entities within a particular area that I happened to visit
- Authorities to watch me because I am a member of the wrong political party
- Authorities to watch me because I am a member of an activist group that they don't like
A greater overriding concern (for me anyway) is the potential of a gradual migration to a police state.
I don't want to feel like I am constantly being watched. I have a friend that escaped from an eastern bloc country *many* years ago. The stories that he told me were spine-chilling. Ordinary citizens are treated like criminals; treated as guilty until proved innocent.
I know that this may sound a little melodramatic, but a country that gives the authorities implicit permission to track my every movement isn't a place I would like to live.
I am not a criminal. It has been nearly a decade since I even got a parking ticket. So why must I be treated as one? As others on this board have already noted, the real criminals are unlikely to use their registered cellphones while mugging someone, or to coordinate that cash-in-transit heist.
This is a bad piece of legislation.
ajax
Executive Member
I don't like it either.
I wonder what will happen if all the current users just refuse to register. I dought if the mobile operators will just cut off 70% odd of their subscriber base.
I predict this one is going to go like the new driver's licences debacle, the cut-off date (excuse the pun) will get extended and extended...
I wonder what will happen if all the current users just refuse to register. I dought if the mobile operators will just cut off 70% odd of their subscriber base.
I predict this one is going to go like the new driver's licences debacle, the cut-off date (excuse the pun) will get extended and extended...
MrGray
Honorary Master
It's the tip of the iceberg. Requiring ID on SIM card owners is quite minor compared to other legislation. ISP's and cellular providers now have to provide backdoors into their networks so that the authorities can tap into your conversations or email almost at will. There are supposedly huge fines for illegal monitoring but this is just spin as it is meaningless since you will probably never know that they are monitoring you in the first place.