Anyone heard anything regarding  fingerprint scans for SIM cards: how will this effect Tourists? I have a Thai family  (kids as divorced) but only get to Thailand every 2-3 months, not retired there yet and also need my SIM for Thai Banking while overseas, will this new system cover people in my situation? or will I need to get a Tourist SIM every visit? That would be a farce. 

 

 

 

http://tech.thaivisa.com/thailand-to-make-fingerprint-scans-mandatory-for-all-sim-cards-from-1-jan-2018/21893/?utm_source=tech-newsletter-20170526-1706&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news

I guess customers will have 2-3 months time to do the process. BP said, the sim card might be blocked till customer does the scan. I understand it in this way; as soon you let them scan your fingerprints, the sim card gets unblocked.

 

It says; Mr Takorn said the move was not part of government surveillance but was a national security measure to help prevent bomb attacks and combat financial fraud.

 

I understand the point about financial fraud, in particular mobile banking, but prevent bomb attacks? How should that work?

Edited May 26, 20179 yr by alocacoc

2 minutes ago, alocacoc said:

I guess customers will have 2-3 months time to do the process. BK said, the sim card might be blocked till customer does the scan.

 

It says; Mr Takorn said the move was not part of government surveillance but was a national security measure to help prevent bomb attacks and combat financial fraud.

 

I understand the point about financial fraud, in particular mobile banking, but prevent bomb attacks? How that?

A person would (presumably) be less inclined to plant a bomb using a telephone as the device to set off the detonator.  After the bomb explodes, and a forensic team swoops in to recover the remaining bits of the phone (including SIM card), the predominant theory is that it wouldn't be too difficult to track the person who owns the phone and presumably planted the bomb.  If this seems too much like a CSI show on television, then perhaps it is.  But in the real world, any shred of evidence is carefully weighed.

Ok, makes sense. I have no idea about planting bombs. But I guess there are many other ways to set off the detonator with other radio devices or simply a timer.