Now Your Phone Needs A Licence

I may be in the minority here but I think this is a good thing. It may help crack down on criminals making use of the convenience of simply buying a sim and using it, then dumping it for another sim so that they can't be traced. This would cut down on alot of illegal activities which exploit the use of prepaid sims.
 
From TFA:
anyone selling or giving away a cellphone or Sim card will have to make and keep a record of the recipient’s name and address, and a photocopy of their ID.
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..I wonder how the street/robot/lights vendors will react? Personally I'm betting they'll treat this new development much like minibus taxi drivers treat road laws in general. On a related note, the window period we have until 01/06 might be a good (well, the only time!) time to bounce around town 'n pick up a few prepaid packs while we still can?

And what about
prepaid subscribers, about 88% of the cellular phone market
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all of these people? Are they SERIOUSLY suggesting on retroactively registering this body of people (ROFL!) or, more likely, will this apply to new registrations only?
-bdt
 
Highflyer_GP said:
This would cut down on alot of illegal activities which exploit the use of prepaid sims.
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Oh, you mean the same way that all of the laws to stop DVD 'pirates' are doing so well? Sorry, but I can't agree with you on this. As is nearly always the case with this kind of misguidedly applied legislation, the only people it's going affect/inconvenience is the little guy ..the crims aren't going to notice squat! :( (but your heart is in the right place big guy)
-bdt
 
or, more likely, will this apply to new registrations only?
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I'm guessing this is probably how it's going to work. Otherwise it would be an administrative nightmare to register current users. So stock up on prepaid sims while you can.

But I'm guessing the main reason for introducing this by mid-year is that number portability comes into effect at around the same time. The current system would make it very difficult for prepaid users to switch between networks and keep their numbers. The new system would make it easier since you have a registered number attributed to you, and switching between networks means simply buying another sim and updating your registration details to say that your number is compatible with certain networks. This definitely has something to do with number portability.
 
also that now there is so much red tape that a normal person can not buy a gun, yet a criminal gets their almost imidiatelly. I really think it's yet another way for big brother to be a voyeur.
 
This is not a bad thing... but I really dont think it was thought out. I can go to Mozambique and get a Vodacom SIM card with pre-paid roaming enabled. What does registration achieve then?

I do realise that crime syndicates use prepaid and swap phones around to confuse investigators but this whose thing is arse about face. Since this bill was proposed, GSM tracking was added in to the equasion... but no-one ammended the bill to cater for location based services.

Another hair-brained idea brought to you by "The South African Government"
 
This is insanity - simply put - it'll never work (to help fight crime).

These people obviously don't live in the real world.

Just another suppression tool for when the time comes.
 
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reech said:
Just another suppression tool for when the time comes.
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All of your base belongs to us ... seriously the information stored is no different from what your bank ... tax man or the govt knows in the population register.
 
"then dumping it for another sim so that they can't be traced"

They can still trace you using the IMEI.
 
This new law is total hogwash...

Want a new sim card? lie about your address give em a fake ID... done

Want a new phone? steal it, change IMEI to prevent blacklisting... done

What about international prepaid? they don't have to register so they can't be traced.

I can see cellphone syndicates providing unregistered or fake registered sims and phones, so how the hell does this improve traceability if the criminals know you're going to try to trace them.

Ill conceived with very little forethought, why do you think they steal cars for armoured vehicle heists? same bladdy principle!

D
 
Actually SARS had and has a big role to play in the implementation of this law, it has specifically asked for this clause to enable more revenue gathering from "below the radar" financial deals.
 
I'm beginning to think it has less to do with crime and more to do with number portability. Look at the dates which both are to be implemented. This can work if implemented properly. Using the current system makes it difficult for prepaid users to change networks while keeping their numbers.
 
When they stole half my stuff in my house they used my cell phone to call their mates to get more cars or whatever.
I got the cell phone number [from vodacom sp] they called and the police could not use it cos it was a prepaid number.

Questions ?
 
This won't work.. a large majority of cellphone users are minors, so I don't see them all registering their phone/sim cards.
 
I agree, this is not something that South Africa really needs at this time ... There is much better things to use the money than all this montering
 
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