Say no to a mobile phone register
July 23rd, 2007
DRI opposes Government proposals to introduce mandatory registration of mobile phones. These proposals will infringe on the privacy of every mobile phone user, as well as being expensive, impracticable and ineffective. But you don’t have to take our word for it. Here’s what the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources had to say in January:
The idea for a Register of mobile phones was extensively reviewed by officials in the Department. There were many complex legal, technical, data protection and practical issues to be considered. In theory, a Register of mobile phones might seem like a good idea. However, having looked at the situation in other administrations, considered the ease with which an unregistered foreign or stolen SIM card can be used and the difficulties that would be posed in verifying identity in the absence of a national identification card system, and having consulted with the Office of the Attorney General and other interested parties, it was concluded that the proposal would be of limited benefit, in that it would not solve the illegal and inappropriate use of pre-paid mobile phones and was not practical.
As the earlier Communications comments suggest, the current proposals don’t appear to have given any thought to some fundamental issues:
- What’s to stop purchasers giving false details?
What’s to stop drug dealers from using phones belonging to others?
What about phones bought before the register comes into effect?
Stolen phones?
Foreign SIM cards?
Not to mention the most important question: how can a failed drug policy justify treating the entire population as suspects?
Let the government know what you think of these proposals. You can contact Pat Carey (the responsible junior minister) here and the Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan here.
Entry Filed under: DRI, Data Retention, Mass surveillance
17 Comments Add your own
1. dahamsta | July 23rd, 2007 at 6:21 pm
Thanks for the links to the contact pages, that kind of information makes it a lot easier to take action.
adam
2. James | July 24th, 2007 at 4:57 am
What’s the correct form of address for a junior minister?
3. Blitz | July 24th, 2007 at 8:49 am
I’m sure it’s Plonker. Capital ‘P’.
4. paul | July 24th, 2007 at 9:48 am
Thanks for the info, certainly this measure (and whatever bright spark that thought of it) is un-constitutional? All this does is allow the government to pinpoint/triangulate where any “registered” user is at any point in time. Does anyone know of a petition against this measure?
5. Linda | July 24th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
The problem with this – and indeed the use of mobile phone triangulation evidence in Court which we have seen this week, the outcome of which in my opinion was absolutely alarming – is that it simply cannot be conclusively proven who is in possession of the phone at any given point in time. The floodgates have now opened to widespread SIM replication and theft of others’ mobile phones by criminals to frame others and create an alibi. IMHO, there’s only one solution, and it’s an effective measure that we can all take. Stop using your mobile phone, and hit the mobile phone companies in the pocket. Only they ultimately have the power in our globalised society to negotiate with governments and law enforcement. A substantial dip in revenue would lead to changes favouring the public. I’ve already given Vodafone my 28 day termination notice.
6. Duane | July 24th, 2007 at 5:45 pm
Can I just point out that the way to tackle criminality is to make it too difficult/awkward for criminals to do business and that is is by introducing measures such as this that we make the lives of criminals a little more difficult. What does a citizen who breaks no law have to fear from this register???
Can I also ask what you have against Minister of State Pat Carey T.D.? I’d just like to ask why do you think the correct title for a Junior Minister is “Plonker. Capital P.” The title, as above is Minister of State or as gaeilge, Aire Stáit. He has been elected with 7,211 FPV’s and is a very hard working public representative for his constituency. Tackle the ball and not the player, Blitz.
7. Linda | July 24th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
Dear Duane – it is very obvious to anyone who applies logical reasoning and thought to this issue that innocent people have everything to fear. We’ve already seen this week the use of mobile phone records in Court to “prove” Joe O’Reilly’s guilt. What on earth is there to stop a thief stealing or cloning a phone or SIM to creat an alibi for himself and pin a crime on another party. Absolutely nothing. Or here’s another scenario – a crime occurs in a specific locality. Owners of all the phones in the immediate vicinity automatically become suspects. We’ve already seen how corrupt the Gardai can be in this country and if you don’t acknowledge that well I’m sorry, rather you live in denial than me. The purpose of this measure is to create an atmosphere of fear and impose a general behavioural straitjacket on the population at large. The criminals will be laughing all the way to the bank with this measure.
8. PGC | July 24th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
Why does a citizen who breaks no law have to be registered and provide the state with access to information they have no right to be gathering in the first place?
I suspect this proposal is a cynical ploy to piggyback on the public mood after the O’Reilly case and the significance of the mobile phone records in that instance.
I think the plonker reference has more to do with the notion of droves of criminals queueing up with their stolen phones and the bag of SIM cards that were tucked into the last drug shipment (beside the unregistered Uzi) to register themselves for surveillance – spanner more like.
It’s hardly relevent how many people voted him no 1, judge the man by his deeds; I have.
Tackle the criminals not the innocents, Duane.
9. Daragh O Brien | July 24th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
I’ve blogged about this over on http://www.obriend.info (http://obriend.info/2007/07/24/mobile-phone-registration/).
The simple issue is that if this is to be done, then the Government will need to show that they have learned some basic lessons on management of information of this type. Given that they likely as not haven’t (has the Electoral Register been fixed up yet?- just checking) then this is just a nonsense bit of puffery from a Junior Minister seeking an easy headline.
I not in favour of it for the reasons outlined on my blog… smells to me of a headling grab by a Junior Minister.
10. Linda | July 25th, 2007 at 10:15 am
Brilliant article in today’s Indo, it says it all:-
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/stupid-pat-carey-is-seeking-to-control-our-free-will-by-creating-north-korea-of-mobile-phones-1043471.html
11. UK Mobile Phone Offers | November 22nd, 2007 at 7:45 pm
Are the powers that be really this blind? Mobile phones are bought and sold so many times over and over, this alone makes this system pointless, not to mention the costs.
It seems that everyone reading this blog is more in touch than ‘those’ who control the power.
And if this was all set up, I am sure some juior member of staff can easily download the entire data base on to two CD’s and then lose them in the post!!
Just say NO…
Michael
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13. gerry | January 17th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
I can’t believe I’m about to say this but you lot are so concerned about your own bloody privacy (and you should), that your forgetting about all those people who go missing. If somebody in your family went missig and there was a chance they could be found by their mobile phone wouldn’t you use it? Hmm?
Please don’t get me wrong, I do believe that each one of us should be concerned about our privacy and the way our government is using our personal details, hell, we should be paranoid about it. But JUST BECAUSE YOU DIDN’T REGISTER YOUR MOBILE DOESN’T MEAN YOUR PRIVACY DOESN’T GET INTRUDED UPON.
All mobile phones should be registered! What’s more; nobody should get a mobile phone without some form of ID! I wonder how many of you lot have children? I do, and for this reason and this reason alone, I AM PRO-REGISTER TO MOBIE PHONES.
14. Ronan | January 21st, 2008 at 11:50 pm
well i know that if you want to buy a stupid Iphone you can’t pay cash for it in store you can only use laser or credit card so that means you have to immediately register the Iphone in the store that you buy it in.
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16. Julius Sison | October 5th, 2008 at 7:33 am
In our country, the political leaders are trying to implement taxing on text messaging to mobile subscribers. What do you think about this?
17. Julius Sison | October 5th, 2008 at 7:36 am
I forgot to tell my country, I am from Philippines Please feel free to tell me more about text messaging tax implementation.
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