Why did it take so long? This sounds like an idea that could have saved countless lives. Anything that takes us a little closer to tackling crime seriously is worth trying. Why this may work is that it involves mainly private industry and not government agencies.
Checking the identity of a SIM card purchaser against a pre-registered identifiable cellphone should go a long way towards making the theft of cellphones less attractive. Having said that, where this measure perhaps is short on detail is that many people have no access to identity documents or are in possession of false identity documents so the problem ultimately really goes back to Home Affairs which we know to be in a torrid state.
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A new law strictly monitoring the identity of customers buying cellular SIM cards in South Africa takes effect Wednesday to aid the fight against serious crime in the country.
Justice Minister Jeff Radebe said Tuesday that the 2008 amendment of a law regulating the interception of communications would insist on the full identity and address of each customer being known before they are allowed to purchase a SIM card.
"The Act was necessitated by the fact that criminals make use of new technology to plan and execute crimes," Radebe told journalists in parliament, adding that this was similar to laws across the globe.
"The aim of the amendment is to assist the law enforcement agencies in the investigation and combating of serious crime and to ensure that the identity and wherabouts of the owner of a SIM card who used a cellular phone in the planning and execution of a serious crime is known."
South Africa has one of the highest crime rates in the world with about 50 people murdered daily, at least 99 raped daily and high rates of corruption.
The law is aimed at those using cellphones and the internet to plan crimes such as human trafficking, murder, rape, abduction, terrorism and drug smuggling.
While no new SIM cards could be sold without proper identification and proof of residence, those in use would have to be verified in the next 18 months or service to that chip would be terminated.
Cellphone theft is common, and Leona Mentz, head of regulatory compliance at service provider Cell C, with some seven million subscribers, said it was a criminal offence not to report a lost, stolen or damaged handset.
MTN has 17 million subscribers and Vodacom 27 million, and the market for SIM cards is already saturated in the population of 48 million.
The principal act has been fully operational since 2008.
Cellphone service providers are not allowed to intercept any communication without written authorisation from a dedicated judge. Abuse of this by any employee could result in a fine of two million rand (260,000 US dollars) and 10 years in prison.
Radebe said the law was "not to pry into private persons but to deal with these criminals giving our country such a bad name."
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10 Opinion(s):
This new "law" will add impetus to the roaring business in fake ID's distributed by the Department of Home Affairs.
I agree with you that is a good idea and should have been implemented jonks ago. As pensioners we use "Pay as you Go" phones and I have no objection to give my personal information to the service provider. I just hope that they start disconnecting as soon as possible, 18 months seems a long time, but then again we are still on "Africa Time" and things work slowly here. I also agree with Dachshund that Home Affairs still has a long way to go to clean up its act,
"Checking the identity of a SIM card purchaser against a pre-registered identifiable cellphone should go a long way towards making the theft of cellphones "less attractive"
This would make sense but it wont happen, the cell phone companies have been able to track stolen phones before this but they generally refuse to and good luck with getting this done while they are hiding behind their call centers, lets hope the workload kills the network thieves!
Ultimatly this new miracle cure comes from the same guys that could not manage the gun registration process, have screwed up the public health system , Eskom, SAA , Department of Home Affairs, and just about anything they touch.
So how well will it work ? Certainly not for the official reason - but it might work well against some people that the ANC conceives a threat to their thieving, corrupt existance.
you actually endorse this law? Whose dick in the NWO are you sucking?
Maybe I'm getting the wrong end of the stick but how will this stop phone theft?, the target is the phone not the SIM, they should be switching off the phones. I am sure they have the facility to track stolen phones now but they don't use it. With this type of control be careful what you say or SMS they will be at your door if you use the K word
@Brian. They do have the ability to block stolen phones. This has been a major issue for years, and frankly a concerted effort would have eliminated the demand for stolen phones. The cell phone companies have been tacitly complicit in the commission of these crimes because it has allowed 30 million people to gain access to their networks, which would have otherwise marginalised them. These cunts (and I don't use this word lightly) should be tried for crimes against humanity. The amount of blood spilt for a mere cell phone, is fucking shameful. Knott-Craig, and your ilk, I hope the same fate befalls you, as has so many other South Africans.
They also said that gun control would reduce crime!
Has it?
i don't agree with that crap, maybe i'm the latest addition to the group of the people who feel otherwise about this matter.My biggest worry is that it won't stop cellphone theft {mark my words...02/07/09...14H06}.I feel you should by a sim card a hundred times and more having to produce no ID book & proof of address!
This law is just plain bullsh!1lt.
My ID was copied by the mobile providers STAFF and over 100k was spent in my name also possibly because of corrupt government officials selling my ID document to criminals! The criminals I have been told do not USE THE SIM CARDS. They SELL THE PHONES.
That said it is possibly unenforceable. the only people it will "catch" are law abiding people.
The simple way to break this law is as follows.
Buy Ten thousand sim cards. Register them all with your name and ID.
As for proof of address and giving my ID to mobile phone operators its an excuse for the syndicates to get away with this.
Whomever thought up this law must be a simpleton with no understanding of the technology behind the phones.
Simple thing for the crooks to do is stop using sim cards and start using payphones.
The very people the government is insisting do the proof of id are the ones that SOLD R100 000.00 worth of iPhones to some b!tch in GP with my name on the ID but her picture!!!!!!
If you want to catch the crook USE technology and a good understanding of the psychology of crooks not ordinary people.
HOW TO BREAK THIS STUPID LAW AND NEVER GET CAUGHT
SO to break this law buy 10 Pre-pay sim cards every week, load them up with R5/R15 air time and give them to your friends and so on. Rotate often.
Then buy some more.
The yanks tried this , the british tried to pass this law but thier brainy people said dont waste your time.
Ahh yes , you go over seas, buy a thousand pre-pay sim cards there set up for roaming anywhere and have safe conversations as those sims are not covered by this regulation as that would be SPYING on foreigners.......
ahh apartheid it seems that the nazi's and you never left.
Forgive me but in this reality I dont feel safe leaving my details.....not with Jacob "big Breasts" Zoomah changing the Judges for ones he can control.
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