145-M ‘unregistered” prepaid sim cards will be deactivated after Christmas

On December 27, two weeks from now, all new SIM cards will be deactivated after the new SIM CARD registration law (RA 11934) takes effect. If one buys a new SIM CARD on that date and thereafter, one must register his real name and present a government-issued ID. If SIM is already subscribed in telcos, you have 180 days to comply.

Yes, this means heydays of cybercriminals will get narrower as identity tracing will now be possible on their scam or spam text messages. But it also exposes our privacy at the mercy of the telcos and their databases. The past months, we’ve been exposed to unnecessary but personally targeted spam messages with commercial purposes and already, they were suspected from illegal data sellers or vendors. They’re still at it but this time, NTC joined by reminding us of their scams. Now, our big question, after Dec. 27, can we now trust Smart, Globe, Sun, DITO and all telcos and their centralized databases limited to just process, activate, or deactivate a SIM or subscription? Will our private information again leak to commercial users?

On reading the new law, the controversial provision requiring usage of real names in social media accounts have been removed. I agree one hundred percent on this because social media content, mostly transmitted from abroad, are difficult for government to manage. In the new law, anybody with aliases or usernames can be backtracked especially if a criminal offense is committed.

Penalties for TELCOS are now very stiff to as high as P1M per offense on registration and P4M per offense on breach of confidentiality. For people who will register fictitious or fraudulent names or those spoofing another registered SIM, six years imprisonment and fines as high as P300K will hit you. I am really hopeful that this new law will really help our society and the whole process will happen smoothly. With Filipinos having multiple SIMS and usernames, their behavior over internet and text messaging must change for the better.

In Indonesia, 101 million prepaid SIM cards were blocked by government five months after their new SIM LAW was approved in March 2018. On the other hand, Malaysia, Hongkong and Taiwan are confronted with serious data privacy issues as SIM card users are monitored by government’s national security and value-added services of business interest groups.

Now, we will wait for further details on NTC’s IRR on RA 11934 in the coming weeks.

WITH LOWER PENALTIES, WE SHOULD BRING BACK NCAP TO HELP SOLVE TRAFFIC

As Christmas nears, holiday traffic has turned to worse, aggravated by the return of speeding jeepneys, provincial buses and swarming motorcycles.

The MMDA warned road congestion will spike by 10 percent in the coming days from today’s daily estimate of 417,000 vehicles along EDSA. Current4 estimated speed along the 23.8-kilometer highway was estimated at 16 kph, still better, they say than the pre-pandemic speed of 11kph.

But highly noticeable today is the utter disregard of motorists of simple road violations like swerving, perhaps knowing that non-contract MMDA or NCAP cameras are still suspended and discussed at the Supreme Court.

In November, a Pulse Asia survey showed that 8 out 10 Filipinos are in favor of NCAP. Respondents say that NCAP will be effective in achieving its objective of disciplining motorists to improve road safety. Admittedly, disciplined motorists are seen on roads in Subic where a stop and go policy are strictly implemented, likewise along SKYWAY, NLEX and SLEX.

Yes, penalties were high for violators and should be greatly reduced for vehicle owners or public utility operators. However, worth noting is reports that repeat violators are almost nil. This means NCAP can create or promote a culture of discipline among drivers and encourage them to follow existing traffic rules, with constant knowledge that an “unseen traffic enforcer” is always watching.

It was not necessary anymore to stop vehicles on the road hence the flow of traffic remains unhampered and monitored. Kotong and bribery operations in the streets were minimized per LGU stats.

Now I remember the joint statements of five Metro Manila mayors on the traffic situation and NCAP. “Several positive things resulted from NCAP, such as minimization of human intervention in traffic enforcement, thereby eliminating corruption, creation of a culture of discipline among motorists, improvement of driving behavior, and ensuring road safety which is proven effective in reducing traffic violations and traffic-related accidents”.
Amen.

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