Wall Street Journal: China Starts Asking New Cellphone Users for ID
The Wall Street Journal reports that China is the latest country to require cellphone users to prove their identity when signing up for service. Several countries have considered such legislation. In the United States, there is legislation under discussion in the Senate that would require people to present ID when buying a prepaid mobile phones and would require companies to keep the information on file. Mexico, Vietnam, Spain and Japan are all seeking to identify some types of cellphone users and create databases.
Often, governments say this is a way to improve security, as only those with nefarious purposes (kidnappers, blackmailers) would need to have mobile phones that are not linked to their identities. This argument ignores that there are legitimate reasons for people to use prepaid cellphones anonymously: whistleblowers speaking to journalists or government prosecutors, or domestic violence victims who seek to avoid tracking by their abusers.
The Journal reports:
China began implementing a long-discussed measure that requires cellphone users to register by name when setting up an account, prompting concerns over privacy in the world’s largest mobile market.
The measure went into effect Wednesday, with customer-service representatives at mobile operators China Mobile Ltd., China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. and China Telecom Corp. telling customers that new users would need to provide proof of their identity when signing up for new phone numbers. State media said all existing users will eventually need to register as well. [...]
The government says that anonymity enables rampant spam and telecom fraud, which are indeed pervasive problems in China. But the anonymity has also enabled people to share politically sensitive information—from text-message jokes poking fun at top leaders to photographs of public demonstrations—freedoms not available Chinese enjoyed before cellphones the advent of cellphones’ arrival. [...]
Some Chinese users expressed support for the government’s real-name effort, but questioned the lack of detail on how the information will be handled or kept private.
There is “both a bright side and a dark side” to the policy, said Helena Luo, a 27-year-old mobile user in Shanghai. “We’ll need to worry about our privacy from now on, but we’ll also see less mobile fraud.” [...]
It is unclear how effectively the government will be able to enforce the new real-name system. An executive at one of China’s three major carriers said the plan would be “impossible to implement nationwide in one step,” since cellphone network cards are sold through a wide array of outlets, including mom-and-pop stores in small villages.
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