Thailand to roll out biometric checks for SIM cards nationwide

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Thailand to roll out biometric checks for SIM cards nationwide

 

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand will introduce biometric checks nationwide for mobile telephone users to register their SIM cards from Dec. 15, the telecoms regulator said on Monday, in a bid to stamp out fraudulent electronic transactions.

 

The new rules require users to either have their fingerprints verified or their faces scanned.

 

The regulator first launched the system in June in Thailand’s troubled south where a separatist insurgency has persisted for more than a decade, killing more than 6,500 people since 2004.

 

Officials say insurgents in the largely ethnic Malay Muslim provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat have used pre-paid SIM cards to trigger bombs.

 

Biometric registration in the south was adopted for national security reasons but elsewhere in Thailand it is aimed at mobile banking security, regulatory official Takorn Tantasith told a news conference on Monday.

 

Full story: https://tech.thaivisa.com/thailand-roll-biometric-checks-sim-cards-nationwide/25450/

 

 

 

[darksidedog]

"Foreigners buying SIM cards in Thailand will have their faces scanned and matched against their passport photographs." https://tech.thaivisa.com/thailand-roll-biometric-checks-sim-cards-nationwide/25450/

Oh, I can see that working out real well. Passport photo a few years old, maybe with or without a beard and a different haircut. Bit grayer perhaps? Maybe glasses now?

And they are going to put this wonderful technology where, exactly? Every 7/11 that right now has a camera phone to take a photo of your passport?

And all of this is going to be cross checked with what? And How?

Instant connection to the worldwide database of known terrorists, perhaps? With the plot being foiled by an alert 7/11 employee denying someone a SIM card?

What planet do these people come from, to come out with such utter paranoid nonsense?

Edited November 6, 2017 by darksidedog

[NanLaew]

16 minutes ago, darksidedog said:

"Foreigners buying SIM cards in Thailand will have their faces scanned and matched against their passport photographs." https://tech.thaivisa.com/thailand-roll-biometric-checks-sim-cards-nationwide/25450/

Oh, I can see that working out real well. Passport photo a few years old, maybe with or without a beard and a different haircut. Bit grayer perhaps? Maybe glasses now?

And they are going to put this wonderful technology where, exactly? Every 7/11 that right now has a camera phone to take a photo of your passport?

And all of this is going to be cross checked with what? And How?

Instant connection to the worldwide database of known terrorists, perhaps? With the plot being foiled by an alert 7/11 employee denying someone a SIM card?

What planet do these people come from, to come out with such utter paranoid nonsense?

The very same planet as all the foreigners beating their gums until they bleed wondering how a whole nation manages to tie their own shoelaces every morning?

[Katia]

Oh, are we doing this again?  Every few months, like clockwork.  "Hey, they're gonna fingerprint foreigners for sim cards."  *nothing happens*  Rinse and repeat.

[KittenKong]

2 hours ago, darksidedog said:

"Foreigners buying SIM cards in Thailand will have their faces scanned and matched against their passport photographs." https://tech.thaivisa.com/thailand-roll-biometric-checks-sim-cards-nationwide/25450/

Oh, I can see that working out real well. Passport photo a few years old, maybe with or without a beard and a different haircut. Bit grayer perhaps? Maybe glasses now?

 

They photograph you every time you enter the country, and this data is recorded along with your passport number.

 

It's already a requirement to show ID when buying a SIM card, so this is just an extension of that.

 

Personally I registered my SIM card and passport scan with True years before it was obligatory, as that way if I lose my phone or it gets stolen I can get a new SIM and cancel the old one very easily without losing my number. It also helps to prevent ID theft. All of which sounds good to me. Anything that works towards reducing the number of terrorists and other criminals in Thailand also gets my vote (though the planes would be full for years if they actually deported all the crooks in Thailand).

[tropo]

Perhaps we should wait for more official "news".

 

In this report it is stated: "SIM cards for post-paid accounts are now registered on purchase, while pre-paid SIM cards can be bought with no identification."

This is nonsense. It has been necessary to show identification to buy pre-paid SIM cards for the past 3 years.
 

 

Edited November 6, 2017 by tropo

[quadperfect]

Here we go again. Blind leading the blind.

[graemeaylward]

How are they going to register SIM cards bought overseas? I am sure a determined terrorist or international fraudster is not going to be thwarted by such trivia!


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

[haybilly]

So, how does this affect those of us holding Phone Sim Contracts ( Post Paid, I guess is the term) but are not due to be in LOS until long after the December deadline?
If this has been answered, apologies, just point me to the post, please.

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

[chang1]

2 hours ago, graemeaylward said:

How are they going to register SIM cards bought overseas? I am sure a determined terrorist or international fraudster is not going to be thwarted by such trivia!


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

I agree this does seem a very easy way to get around this security measure but as KittenKong said it does have some advantages so I think it's worth doing as long as it is still quick and easy to get a sim.

[haybilly]

So, how does this affect those of us holding Phone Sim Contracts ( Post Paid, I guess is the term) but are not due to be in LOS until long after the December deadline?
If this has been answered, apologies, just point me to the post, please.

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

As is mentioned a few posts above mine- I seem to remember having to register my passport details when I updated my Contract a couple of years back- I'm hoping that's all it should take.

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk

[BuckBee]

waste of time, buy a lao pre pay at mukdahan bus station for example and roam on thai network and detonate you bomb, total nonsense and as usual you will also have sources of used already registered thai sim cards from dodgy phone shops and back street traders . I got offered some when looking at dtac pre-pay packages for easy remember number options .

[Sumarianson]

This wont affect terrorists anyhow and wont stop fraudsters. 

Just using older cards or getting someone else to buy the card for you. What a joke. It is to be used to track you and your whereabouts and identify you. It wont work for what they want. Just a further invasion of our privacy. We don't need this and the public should be wary of giving more and more of their privacy away. The fact that your picture and biometrics are in some data base with an "admin" password as has happned puts us in a far more volunerable posotion security wise. 

The goverment are there to serve, not dictate. Such serious matters should be voted on. Do you want to relinquish your privacy to a true, Dtac or Ais counter operative or 7/11 service assistant on 300B a day?

[ChrisY1]

This scheme has fail written all over it......far too technical for 7/11 shops!!