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The real-name phone system must take into account privacy and business needs

2021-02-03T23:07:42.250Z


The Hong Kong government intends to introduce a real-name registration system for mobile phone SIM cards. The government announced on Friday (29th) that it will open a public call to the telecommunications industry, stakeholders, and the public on the real-name registration system for phone cards from the 30th of last month to the 28th of this month.


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Written by: Commentary Editing Room

2021-02-04 07:00

Last update date: 2021-02-04 07:00

The Hong Kong government intends to introduce a real-name registration system for mobile phone SIM cards. The government announced last Friday (29th) that it will open the real-name registration system for phone cards to the telecommunications industry, stakeholders and citizens from the 30th of last month to the 28th of this month. advisory.

The government consultation document pointed out that measures were taken to combat the abuse of telecommunications services and put forward a number of suggestions related to phone card registration and supervision. Immediately after the consultation started, the public concerned about their personal privacy.

In the consultation document, the government proposes to limit each user to register no more than three stored-value cards with each licensee. Registration of young people under the age of 16 needs to be confirmed by adults, and telecommunications company licensees must check, clarify and verify The information provided by the user shall be kept for 12 months after the cancellation of registration.

The real-name registration system is expected to be implemented in two stages. The first stage is to allow the new SIM card and service plan to comply with the real-name registration requirements four months after the regulation takes effect. The second stage is to eliminate the remaining ones within about one year after the regulation takes effect. Unregistered "Space Card".

On January 30, the government announced the launch of a public consultation on the real-name registration system for phone smart cards (ie, mobile phone SIM cards).

A citizen buys a phone card on Apliu Street.

(Information Picture/Photographed by Li Zetong)

Same policy for multiple lines in neighboring areas

To be fair, Hong Kong is one of the few places in Asia and the Pacific that does not have a mandatory requirement for phone card registration.

In 2020, the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) counted 65 phone card registration and data protection in the Asia-Pacific region. Among them, the only ones that did not require phone card registration were Israel, New Zealand, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Kiribati, and Marshall. Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, and Hong Kong. In the same year, Australia, South Korea, and Japan, which were rated as the most privacy-respecting countries in the Asia-Pacific region by the World Justice Project "Rule of Law Index", also required phone SIM card users to register as individuals. data.

The most important reason for the Hong Kong government to regulate SIM cards is to "reduce the chances of improper use or even abuse of telecommunications networks, so as to protect the integrity of telecommunications services and the security of communication networks", and to combat criminals abusing anonymous calls to hide their true identity .

Although GSMA’s 2016 report stated that there is no necessary relationship between the real-name registration system and crime reduction, it also admitted that “any solution, including real-name registration, can effectively solve the specific criminal activities it aims to solve”. Various types of phone scams in Hong Kong and crimes such as using a SIM card to remotely detonate home-made bombs have indeed increased in recent years. Therefore, the relevant policy recommendations made by the authorities cannot be said to be reasonable.

At present, Hong Kong is one of the few places in Asia and the Pacific that does not have a mandatory requirement for phone card registration.

(Profile picture / Photo by Liang Pengwei)

Implementation should balance privacy and business

Although the mandatory requirement for phone users to register their personal data is a global trend, the authorities cannot ignore that local governments have also strengthened the protection of personal data.

The GSMA reports over the years have emphasized that the registration system should cooperate with a special data privacy protection framework, and more than half of the 51 Asia-Pacific countries or regions that have implemented the registration system have established corresponding measures. In contrast, the current consultation documents of the Hong Kong government are only simple One sentence requires licensees "The storage and use of personal data must also comply with relevant requirements, including the data protection principles under the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance." How to ensure that they do this completely silent, it is inevitable that The public is worried that the authorities' consideration of user privacy is insufficient.

On the other hand, the consultation document also suggested that a "one size fits all" limit each user can only register with no more than three stored-value cards, and this scope also includes company and corporate users, which has the potential to cause obstacles to some business operators.

As Fang Baoqiao, Honorary Chairman of the Hong Kong Information Technology Chamber of Commerce, pointed out that the government’s restrictions on the number of phone cards will greatly affect taxis, express delivery and transportation fleets, because the GPS system of each vehicle in the fleet needs to be equipped with a separate SIM card. As for the phone application In the process of developing and testing products, developers may also need to use multiple phone cards to test software.

In the face of these businesses with special needs, the authorities should consider whether they can provide corresponding exemptions and review mechanisms before legislation.

Especially on the issue of identity verification, the consultation document hopes that the licensee will "cancel the registration of the phone smart card if there are reasonable grounds to believe that the relevant information is false, misleading or incomplete." The relevant requirement is based on the current "holding Licensees generally have already verified the relevant information before activating the relevant services." However, in fact, some small virtual network providers may not be able to afford to verify the user’s identity at all. Therefore, rashly implementing this proposal is tantamount to encouraging large-scale enterprises Telecommunications companies further monopolize the market and pass on related service fees to consumers.

All in all, the starting point of the Hong Kong Government to follow the international trend and implement the telephone real-name registration system to combat crime is correct, but before the implementation of the policy, it must ensure that the local privacy protection package can keep up with the international level, and try to avoid the implementation process from unreasonably affecting the operation of different industries. .

In order to achieve the above two points smoothly, the responsible officials must not rush to see this consultation as a "procedural". The general public and stakeholders should also take advantage of this consultation to put forward constructive opinions.

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Source: hk1

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