By Kat Asharya | Wed Sep 01, 2010 11:37 am |
China's government is requiring mobile phone users submit personal information when signing up for new phone numbers, in a move to curb unsolicited spam and fraud.
China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said residents buying numbers for mobile phones must now show their ID cards. Foreigners staying in China must produce their passports to buy numbers. All buyers are limited to a maximum of 18 numbers.
Previously, phone users could buy cheap SIM cards anonymously with cash at local convenience stores and newsstands.
The regulation is the latest campaign by the government to curb the global scourge of spam, pornographic messages and fraud that plague many Chinese residents.
The rule is not unlike regulations in other developed nations, require users to present credit card data or other identification to buy mobile phone numbers. But it is opposed by some who see it as another intrusion into privacy, making it easier for the government to monitor its citizens.
Others fear there is not enough infrastructure to protect the sensitive information gathered, which could be sold illicitily to spammers and other unscrupulous parties.
Whether the measure will have any impact on reducing spam remains to be seen, but the new rule requiring ID to buy mobile phone numbers in China will probably remain in place indefinitely.
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