Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Starting today, pre-paid SIM cards lose their anonymity in China. Mobile phone users must use their official identity cards and register with their real names in order to buy them.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has been pushing for the move for five years, arguing that the new move would curb fraud.
Activists and online users are worried that the new move comes at a time of tightening controls over the internet and a crackdown on dissidents.
Mobile users who already have prepaid SIM cards will not have to register immediately, but they will have to provide their real names and ID card numbers within the next three years. Unregistered SIM cards reportedly will not be revoked.
Controls will also be tighter on where SIM cards are sold. Until now, they could be sold at newspaper kiosks, but in Beijing, kiosks were notified that, for now, they could not sell the cards. Violators would be fined 5,000 yuan.
Official figures indicate that the mainland had 800 million mobile phone users by the end of July; that is roughly 60.5 mobile phones per 100 people. About 70 per cent of users bought prepaid SIM cards without having to register using their real names
Whilst pre-paid cards gave spammers and scammers an opportunity to use mobile phones for their own purposes, they also enabled anyone to go online and post dissenting views without fear of being tracked down.
For this reason, many experts believe the new policy to be an attempt to increase government censorship on the internet.
In fact, for them the real goal is greater control on people, because criminal groups can always get around the problem by using fake or cloned Ids, or frequently changing SIM cards, something that ordinary Chinese cannot do.
What is more, the obligation to provide ID violates freedom of communication, which is guaranteed under Chinese law.
