Passports will be needed to buy mobile phones

[Istik]

http://www.neowin.net/news/main/08/10/2 ... ile-phones

In a move by the UK government, passports will be required to purchase mobile phones.

Currently there are around 27 million on contract accounts and 49 million pay as you go subscribers in the UK. Under the plans everyone who buys a mobile telephone will be required to register their identity on a national database.

Privacy campaigners claim it's the latest move from the UK government to create a surveillance society. Shami Chakrabarti, the director of Liberty, said: 'The bigger the database, the greater the risk of accident, error and abuse.'

The move is targeted at the 49 million pay as you go customers. They can be purchased with cash and customers do not need to provide their name, address or credit card details.

Senior officials in the Home Office have privately warned that the database scheme is impractical, disproportionate and potentially unlawful.

Recently the UK government suspended plans to create a giant database for all phone calls, emails, text messages and web sites visited in the United Kingdom.

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[Toucan]

dont see the big deal
if you've nothing to hide, you've nothing to worry about

[Jasno]

Other than all the calls you make to "Hot guy connection"

[Toucan]

mate i work for the phone company, i can remove those records

[Jasno]

ROFL

[gelfling]

More lunacy. After the recent series of data fiascos, I'm astonished to read that they are even considering this - let alone linking your passport to your mobile phone number.

[Toucan]

to be honest it has already been done for years

when i 1st got into this game nearly 10 years ago, in order to take out a contract you had to supply id as it was a credit agreement
a credit/debit card, driving licence or a passport
these details were registered against the credit check to ensure that they were the person they said they were

[gelfling]

I don't think that is the same thing. This would be a database that links mobile phones to passports. Firstly I don't see the point in doing that. You might as well go down the road of identity cards and that's another redundant and mad idea -- if we had a competent government and first-class data-security measures in place, then I'd be somewhat supportive of the concept of identity cards but we don't live in that Cloud Cuckoo Land.

Secondly, showing your passport to prove your identity to make a purchase is one thing - though not something I would do unless it was vital to do so. But allowing someone to make a copy of your passport is irresponsible. I'm of the view that most people are trustworthy, however, a good number of people keep their password on a post-it note on their computer screens and have no concept of the importance of data security. These honest, yet naive people, make it easy for the toe-rags out there to get what they want, when they want it.

Going back to what I said at the beginning of this post, I don't see the point of doing this at all. What is the benefit to the ordinary person? I mean the real nitty-gritty, tangible, benefit to you and I?

[Lores]

Bad guys use disposable or pre-payment phones. More inconvience for the many because of the few.

[gelfling]

And no doubt if they can't use a disposable or pre-paid phone, they'll just steal one.

Hoon attempted to argue a case for this today: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7674775.stm

I'm still not seeing anything logical here. I think this Government read 1984 and thought it was A Good Idea. 1984 isn't a book of suggestions and recommendations; I hope that George Orwell did not consider it as such when he penned the tale.

Editing to add a link to this news story posted on the 15th of October: BBC News: Giant Database Plan 'Orwellian'

[Toucan]

see, i've no problem with id cards either
a few years ago a few students were campaining against it on a busy saturday afternoon in glasgow city centre

me and my mate, being half pished, decided to challenge them
their arguement was people may have something to hide that they wouldnt want to be recorded

after about an hour of debating with these clowns, and also drawing quite a crowd, we succeeded in getting several people to remove their names from the petition they had just signed