Passports Required To Buy Mobile Phones

Wed, 22 Oct 2008

Brits could soon be required to produce their passport when buying a new mobile phone under new Government proposals.

According to reports by the Sunday Times, the Government is planning to extend the powers of state surveillance by forcing mobile phone consumers to register their identity on a national database, which officials will be able to access as part of a bid to monitor criminals and terrorists.

The Draft Communications Data Bill proposal would require those people who purchase any type of mobile phone to present their passport or another form of official ID at the place of purchase.

The move is targeted at monitoring the owners of Britain’s estimated 40 million prepaid (PAYG) mobile phones, which can currently be purchased with cash by customers who do not wish to give their names, addresses or credit card details, and are popular with criminals.

According to the newspaper, Whitehall officials brought forward the idea of a register containing the names and addresses of everyone who purchases a mobile phone in recent talks with mobile carriers such as Vodafone .

If given the green light, the compulsory register of all 72 million mobile phones in Britain will become part of a much larger database to counter crime and terrorism.

Contingency planning for such a move is already thought to be under way at Vodafone, where 72 per cent of its 18.5 million UK customers use PAYG services.

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