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All New Thai SIMs Will Require Fingerprint Registration From March

posted by takyon on Thursday February 02 2017, @11:02AM   Printer-friendly
from the give-them-the-finger dept.

An Anonymous Coward submitted an article from The Stack:

In November the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) announced the mandate, outlining February 2017 as the deadline for operators to facilitate the ID registration scheme, which was ostensibly created to prevent online fraud and increase security in mobile banking.

[...] Thailand's existing 106 million mobile users will not be constrained to register their current devices. This effectively gives non-ID SIM usage in Thailand a withering vine of 3-7 years, based on current upgrade patterns and smartphone turnover.

[...] In January of 2016 Saudi Arabia also announced a fingerprint ID registration scheme, which similarly does not include retroactive registration for existing users or devices. According to a report by the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC), mobile subscribers dropped by three million to 51 million in the wake of the legislation, under which information on the SIM is shared with the National Information Centre to confirm the authenticity of the buyer during transactions.

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2) by jasassin on Friday February 03 2017, @06:30AM

    by jasassin (3566) <jasassin@gmail.com> on Friday February 03 2017, @06:30AM (#462250) Homepage Journal

    I have to start by saying the only cell phone I have is a Kyocera dumb tracphone that hasn't had minutes on it for years, and has been sitting in my drawer with the battery out of it for the same ammount of time.

    I do not understand the point of this. Since each SIMM already has a unique ID built into it and you are paying for a cell plan, don't they already know who you are without a fingerprint? Yeah you can have 20 different SIMM cards, but they have to have a cell plan with a name associated with them.

    Do pre-paid phones have SIMM cards? I am so confused, I know dick about cell phones so I would really appreciate all the information you guys can give me! I guess I really don't get it.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 03 2017, @07:26AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 03 2017, @07:26AM (#462265)
    No, with prepaid cards they don't immediately know who you are without such registration schemes. You pay for for a prepaid SIMM starter pack, put the SIMM into your phone and you can use it. Top ups/reloads can be using cash to buy top-up at convenience stores (which just provide you a number to use to get more time/credit).

    I wonder what the laws are for someone registering and buying hundreds of such cards and reselling them online. Would that be illegal?

    FWIW I think in Thailand they already required ID to buy prepaid packs before this, just fingerprints weren't required.