On Oct. 10, Philippine President Bongbong Marcos signed into law the contentious SIM Card Registration Act. Lawmakers who support the bill claim that it will be a major leap toward combating the country's rampant text scams. Meanwhile, human rights organizations point out that some provisions of the law substantially increase the state's capability of citizen surveillance.
Ending Text Scams?
According to the Philippine News Agency (PNA), the law requires all mobile phone users to present valid government-issued identification and documents when registering their SIMs or eSIMs to combat mobile and electronic devices communication-aided crimes.
Telcos will be required by law to protect subscribers' personal information under the supervision of the country's communication technology department.
Furthermore, the version approved by Philippine lawmakers imposes fines ranging from PHP5,000 to PHP1 million on telcos, authorized SIM card sellers, and even government employees who fail to comply with the law.
"Finally, meron na tayong magagawa (we can do something) aside from just ignoring, deleting, or blocking the numbers with fraudulent or spam messages," senator Grace Poe said in a speech.
"We now have in our hands the means to unmask the criminals who have been hiding for so long under the protection of anonymity and to bring them to justice," the legislator emphasized.
Heightened State Surveillance
According to Nikkei Asia, while rules and regulations will be finalized in two months, information technology experts in the Philippines say the law is unlikely to help people who have been victims of a text or phone scam.
Kim Cantillas of the Computer Professionals Union tells Nikkei that the law only deters fraudulent registration and is ineffective in catching actual fraudsters. This is because hunting down criminals requires court orders and authorities' resources and effort.
Cantillas asserts that if combined with the Anti-Terror Law of 2020, the law may encourage the surveillance of those who oppose the government, such as journalists and human rights advocates.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) asserts that this specific measure will unquestionably give law enforcement more teeth by precisely identifying every mobile phone user.
Philippine law enforcement officials added that as the pandemic spread in 2019 and people was forced to stay indoors, criminals switched their focus from offline crimes to online ones using telecommunication and cyberspace platforms.
In a recent press release, the National Privacy Commission added that they are fully aware that implementing a SIM card registration system will require a significant collection of personal data.
Therefore, it is imperative to create a technology-neutral strategy and future-proof the proposed legislation in order for it to achieve its intended goal while respecting the rights and freedoms of the data subjects.
According to Bloomberg, the Philippines' Asian neighbor Indonesia is also ratifying new data privacy legislation in response to a series of cyberattacks on its citizens' databases. As per reports, if the bill is passed, Indonesia will become the fifth Southeast Asian country to have a specific law on personal data protection, joining Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines.
