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With just a few days left before the deadline, only 36.79 percent of all subscriber identity module (SIM) cards have been registered in the country. This is based on the most recent figures released by the Department of Information and Communications Technology. It's not exactly going great.
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Opinion: It's Time to Admit That the SIM Card Registration Law Is a Colossal Failure© Provided by Esquire Philippines
The other 60-plus percent of SIM cards in circulation, on the other hand, will either be canceled or deactivated if the government doesn't decide on an extension. These are all less-than-encouraging signs for a law that was doomed from the very start. Another law that characterizes the government's obsession with ill-conceived, reckless, shortsighted decision-making. Another law that exemplifies our culture of exclusion.
The clamor for the passing of SIM Card Registration Act, or Republic Act 11934, came during a time when spam messages spread across devices in the country. It would ultimately become the first bill President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. signed into law as the big chief. Whoopie. Our data privacy concerns, however, were left unexamined. And, of all things, we still lack the infrastructure necessary for the general population to register.
Among the obvious issues with the law is the fact that our personal information will be available to law enforcement agencies upon request. State surveillance operations are already salivating at this idea. In fact, this measure just puts everyone else's security and privacy at risk. It's a cyber attacker's dream scenario: the ultimate database for häçking, right there for the taking. They did it before. What makes us so sure they won't do it again?
Earlier this week, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) and other groups also filed a petition before the Supreme Court asking to declare the law requiring registration unconstitutional. They explained that it raises concerns about our freedom of speech, right to privacy, and unreasonable searches and seizures. Nondisclosure, the groups argued, leads to enforced silence. This effectively presumes that the regular unregistered user is a suspected criminal.
This brings us to the discriminatory element of the law. Filipinos on the fringes are automatically penalized for the lack of infrastructure in their areas. We're already assuming they're criminals for systematic failures. In the worst cases, some of us don't even have the financial or digital resources to go register.
Some of us just don't have the luxury of time, too. We're asking people who have to make ends meet to take unpaid leaves and pay extra costs to get clearances. All this is for the sake of a faulty law yet to prove that it's deterred scams. Remote areas simply do not have the capacity for such mobility. Obtaining documentation, in itself, can be a tall task for those of us working and living in far-flung regions elsewhere.
Anyone caught illegally transferring SIM registration faces up to six years of imprisonment and a fine of up to P300,000
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At the very least, telco officials seem to agree that an extension is necessary at this point. "We are filing this request to help give ample time to all mobile users, particularly the marginalized sectors and those located in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas of the country, to register their SIMs," PLDT and Smart First Vice President and Head of Group Corporate Communications Cathy Yang said last week.
Meanwhile, Globe Telecom said in a statement that, given the issues, they "appeal to the government to extend the SIM registration process to give our customers more time to get their required government IDs and input the required information on our site."
Common sense is rare today. Hell, even former-president Rodrigo Duterte vetoed the previous version of the SIM card registration law. He did so because of the inclusion of social media in the measure. And for better or for worse, it was an appropriate move. "The President similarly found that certain aspects of state intrusion, or the regulation thereof, have not been duly defined, discussed, or threshed out in the enrolled bill, with regard to social media registration," then-acting presidential spokesperson Martin Andanar added at the time. A broken clock is right twice a day, too, after all.
Marcos Jr.'s version subtracted that from the equation. When Marcos Jr. signed the law, he claimed that any registered information "shall be treated as absolutely confidential unless accessed to this information as been granted with the written consent of the subscriber." We've been sold on the idea that the government and our telcos value our privacy. But come on. The fact that scams and spam texts still prevail (showing our literal names on the messages) goes to show that the breach itself has yet to be addressed. Nobody has been held accountable. The law has not proven itself to be a valid deterrent to phishing concerns.
This measure shifts the burden to us, innocent citizens, who are the actual phishing victims, mind you. It posits that the individual Filipino is responsible for state negligence. Our information was compromised and yet, here we are, fending for ourselves. Christ. Yeah, now we're supposed to pretend that the SIM Card Law answers this institutionalized denial. Go figure.
Our only hope is for the 120-day extension to kick in or for the rest of the 64 percent of users to magically register. If not, we're as good as criminals. This move was meant to accelerate our shift to digitalization. But all the more it demonstrates just how far we are from actual inclusion. It just shows us how little the state values our privacy, security, and freedoms. But hey, what's new, right?
And now this happened... Data leak focused on police records DICT
You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now.
Opinion: It's Time to Admit That the SIM Card Registration Law Is a Colossal Failure© Provided by Esquire Philippines
The other 60-plus percent of SIM cards in circulation, on the other hand, will either be canceled or deactivated if the government doesn't decide on an extension. These are all less-than-encouraging signs for a law that was doomed from the very start. Another law that characterizes the government's obsession with ill-conceived, reckless, shortsighted decision-making. Another law that exemplifies our culture of exclusion.
The clamor for the passing of SIM Card Registration Act, or Republic Act 11934, came during a time when spam messages spread across devices in the country. It would ultimately become the first bill President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. signed into law as the big chief. Whoopie. Our data privacy concerns, however, were left unexamined. And, of all things, we still lack the infrastructure necessary for the general population to register.
Among the obvious issues with the law is the fact that our personal information will be available to law enforcement agencies upon request. State surveillance operations are already salivating at this idea. In fact, this measure just puts everyone else's security and privacy at risk. It's a cyber attacker's dream scenario: the ultimate database for häçking, right there for the taking. They did it before. What makes us so sure they won't do it again?
Earlier this week, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) and other groups also filed a petition before the Supreme Court asking to declare the law requiring registration unconstitutional. They explained that it raises concerns about our freedom of speech, right to privacy, and unreasonable searches and seizures. Nondisclosure, the groups argued, leads to enforced silence. This effectively presumes that the regular unregistered user is a suspected criminal.
This brings us to the discriminatory element of the law. Filipinos on the fringes are automatically penalized for the lack of infrastructure in their areas. We're already assuming they're criminals for systematic failures. In the worst cases, some of us don't even have the financial or digital resources to go register.
Some of us just don't have the luxury of time, too. We're asking people who have to make ends meet to take unpaid leaves and pay extra costs to get clearances. All this is for the sake of a faulty law yet to prove that it's deterred scams. Remote areas simply do not have the capacity for such mobility. Obtaining documentation, in itself, can be a tall task for those of us working and living in far-flung regions elsewhere.
Anyone caught illegally transferring SIM registration faces up to six years of imprisonment and a fine of up to P300,000
You do not have permission to view the full content of this post. Log in or register now.
At the very least, telco officials seem to agree that an extension is necessary at this point. "We are filing this request to help give ample time to all mobile users, particularly the marginalized sectors and those located in geographically isolated and disadvantaged areas of the country, to register their SIMs," PLDT and Smart First Vice President and Head of Group Corporate Communications Cathy Yang said last week.
Meanwhile, Globe Telecom said in a statement that, given the issues, they "appeal to the government to extend the SIM registration process to give our customers more time to get their required government IDs and input the required information on our site."
Common sense is rare today. Hell, even former-president Rodrigo Duterte vetoed the previous version of the SIM card registration law. He did so because of the inclusion of social media in the measure. And for better or for worse, it was an appropriate move. "The President similarly found that certain aspects of state intrusion, or the regulation thereof, have not been duly defined, discussed, or threshed out in the enrolled bill, with regard to social media registration," then-acting presidential spokesperson Martin Andanar added at the time. A broken clock is right twice a day, too, after all.
Marcos Jr.'s version subtracted that from the equation. When Marcos Jr. signed the law, he claimed that any registered information "shall be treated as absolutely confidential unless accessed to this information as been granted with the written consent of the subscriber." We've been sold on the idea that the government and our telcos value our privacy. But come on. The fact that scams and spam texts still prevail (showing our literal names on the messages) goes to show that the breach itself has yet to be addressed. Nobody has been held accountable. The law has not proven itself to be a valid deterrent to phishing concerns.
This measure shifts the burden to us, innocent citizens, who are the actual phishing victims, mind you. It posits that the individual Filipino is responsible for state negligence. Our information was compromised and yet, here we are, fending for ourselves. Christ. Yeah, now we're supposed to pretend that the SIM Card Law answers this institutionalized denial. Go figure.
Our only hope is for the 120-day extension to kick in or for the rest of the 64 percent of users to magically register. If not, we're as good as criminals. This move was meant to accelerate our shift to digitalization. But all the more it demonstrates just how far we are from actual inclusion. It just shows us how little the state values our privacy, security, and freedoms. But hey, what's new, right?
And now this happened... Data leak focused on police records DICT
