Argentina Orders Telecoms To Create A Permanent Database Of All Mobile Phone Users
from the is-that-a-tracking-device-in-your-pocket,-or-are-you-just-glad-to-see-me? dept
The Argentine government has announced the creation of a new national register of everyone using mobile phones in the country (original in Spanish). An article on Ambito.com says that discussions between the government and telecom companies have been underway for some months, and last week the scheme was finally unveiled. According to the Joint Resolution No. 6 of the Ministries of Security and Communications (original in Spanish), the mobile phone companies will be responsible for developing, operating and managing the system "at their own cost." In practice, this is likely to mean that the extra expenses will be passed on to customers. The personal data must be stored in a "safe, audited and permanent" manner, and yes, the records will be available to the authorities.
The justification for the national register is to combat theft: according to a report in La Nación, 5000 mobile phones are stolen every day (original in Spanish.) To put that in context, another article in La Nación (original in Spanish) says that there are around 60 million mobile numbers in use, which seems rather high given that Argentina's total population is 42 million. Clearly, some people have two or more phones.
Even one is a problem, for reasons that Edward Snowden and Andrew "bunnie" Huang pointed out earlier this year: a mobile phone is "the perfect tracking device." The new register may indeed help tackle the theft of mobile phones in Argentina. But it will also create a powerful and dangerous new resource that the authorities will surely be unable to resist dipping into for other purposes.
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Filed Under: argentina, database, mobile phones, privacy, registration, tracking
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Yes, this happens. I have 3 personally, though obviously I only tend to use one at a time (the others are for company use and for times when I'm travelling / at concerts etc and don't wish to damage my main phone). I also have 5 SIM cards - personal, work, a UK one for when I'm over there, one from a different network when I used to have a pay as you go phone, and one I used in emergency when my main one got lost.
Once you factor in business and other uses that might require different contact numbers, it's not an astounding figure. Especially if the phones are not tied to a contract and there's an extra charge for getting the same number assigned to the new SIM - some people will just pay less for a different number and inform their contacts of the change.
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Along with using electricity, using heat, having cash, and (in true Michael Palin style) "'e looks like one." If the cops want to say they have a reason for suspecting you of dealing drugs, they're given so much alarming leeway it really doesn't matter.
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Looking at it backwards
The new register may indeed help tackle the theft of mobile phones in Argentina. But it will also create a powerful and dangerous new resource that the authorities will surely be unable to resist dipping into for other purposes.
More accurately:
This will create a powerful and dangerous new resource that the authorities will surely be unable to resist dipping into. Oh, and it might be used to track stolen phones, that too.
That the records are permanent is a huge red flag indicating that this isn't about stolen phones at it's core. If a phone is stolen knowing where it was last week or last month isn't going to do you much good, the only thing you need to know is where it is now. Knowing where it was in the past is great for tracking movement of the owner though.
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But Does It Have To Be Nothing But The Truth?
(The rubbish would have to be carefully generated, so that it cannot be easy to automatically filter it out from the valid data.)
Would that be considered a violation of the record-keeping law?
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Re: But Does It Have To Be Nothing But The Truth?
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Re: what incentive do companies have to increase their data generation and storage needs tenfold?
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Unless you're a Predator drone trying to kill a terrorist who has given his mobile phone to somebody else.
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