De Lima ‘alarmed’ over possible data exposure in SIM card reg’n bill

Senator Leila de Lima expressed alarm over a provision in the proposed SIM Card Registration Act that may expose the data of users and embolden law enforcement agencies to abuse the information in their hands.

The detained senator said she was referring to Section 5 of Senate Bill 2395, which requires the public telecommunication entity (PTE) to forward the registration information of users to a centralized database accessible by both the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).

“The goals of the proposed measure are laudable and seemingly adaptive to the technological advancements of the new century, which is why, in principle, I have no objections to the proposed bill on SIM card registration, for as long as the intrusions on individual privacy it entails are narrowly tailored to achieve that goal,” De Lima said in a comment on the bill.

“However, if the measures go beyond achieving ownership registration, as is now effectively implemented among post-paid subscribers, then it becomes less of a safeguard for public interest, and more of an opportunistic measure taken by a government to impose a surveillance state on its citizenry,” she added.

Last December 16, the Senate unanimously approved the bill on third and final reading.

The measure seeks to eradicate criminal activities aided by mobile phones, the internet or other electronic communication devices.
Notably, the bill penalizes the use of fictitious identities to register SIM cards and the unauthorized sale of registered SIM cards.

De Lima noted that there is already a method by which ownership registration is most effectively implemented, particularly through a readily verifiable database in the possession of telecommunications service providers.

“The existing system for post-paid subscribers is not only effective for the purpose of ownership registration, it is likewise effective in serving as a protection against undue intrusions by the state or state actors,” she said.

“Therefore, that being said, my only objection is to Section 5, which requires the PTE to forward the registration info to a centralized database accessible by both the NTC and DICT,” she added.

The post De Lima ‘alarmed’ over possible data exposure in SIM card reg’n bill first appeared on .

Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)