Mandatory SIM registration bill approved

MANILA - The Senate has approved the bill requiring the registration of subscriber identity modules (SIMs) to curb mobile-phone aided crimes in the country.

Senate Bill (SB) No. 1310 or the proposed “SIM Registration Act” hurdled the upper chamber on third and final reading with 20 affirmative votes, and no negative votes or abstention from senators.

 

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Grace Poe, chairperson of the Senate committee on public services, is the first legislative measure passed by the upper chamber in the 19th Congress.

 

Re-filed in the 19th Congress, the measure seeks to regulate the registration and use of SIMs by mandating subscribers to register with telecommunication entities before SIMs are activated.  Existing subscribers must also register or risk deactivating or retiring their SIMs.

 

Registration includes the submission of full name, date of birth and address of end-users, as well as valid government-issued identification cards to verify their identity.

 

SB 1310 also prohibits “spoofing,” or the act of transmitting misleading or inaccurate information about the source of phone call or text messages to defraud, cause harm or wrongfully obtain anything of value.

 

The bill also penalizes the sale of stolen SIMs.

 

Telecom firms, on the other hand, would be tasked to keep the subscribers’ information in a database, while the Department of Information and Communications Technology shall conduct an annual audit of their compliance with information security standards.

 

All submitted information is absolutely confidential but may be disclosed if a competent authority subpoenas them for an investigation of a crime or a malicious, fraudulent or unlawful act committed using a specific mobile number.

 

“Finally, we can now do something aside from just ignoring, deleting or blocking the numbers with fraudulent or spam messages. We have now in our hands the means to unmask criminals who have been hiding for so long under the protection of anonymity, and to bring them to justice,” Poe said.

 

“Each day without the law, someone gets victimized. Scammers spare no one. We must stop them in their tracks,” she said as she called on telecom companies to also fight text scams.

 

Globe Telecom has more than 87 million subscribers while Smart Telecommunication has over 70 million, and Dito with only 1 million subscribers.

 

The bill was first introduced during President Rodrigo Duterte’s term following the emergence of so-called pro-Duterte “troll farms” on social media, especially even before the 2016 presidential election. But Duterte rejected the bill over concerns that this will give rise to a situation of dangerous state intrusion and surveillance. Duterte vetoed the proposed law over the inclusion of social media registration.

The provision requiring social media networks to compel their users to provide their real name and phone numbers when creating accounts was included by lawmakers during the bicameral conference meetings on the bill. The measure also penalizes people who use fictitious identities to register for social media accounts with a fine of up to P200,000, jail time of at least six years or both.

Lawmakers passed the measure in an attempt to address terrorism, text scams, bank fraud and defamation online, but internet freedom advocates said this bill will violate Filipinos’ right to privacy. (Mindanao Examiner)