Time to revisit SIM card registration proposal

In my column article last February, I described the passage by Congress of the proposed SIM card Registration Act as a major shift in our information ecology. Unfortunately, the bill that would have required SIM cards and social media accounts to be registered did not become law because then President Rodrigo Duterte vetoed it.

Today, we are bombarded by unsolicited commercial messages on our phone, also known as phishing texts or SMS spam. Many of these text messages offer loans and fake jobs, while some provide links which when clicked on will lead you to sites that will attempt to steal your financial and other sensitive personal information.

While this has been going on for a long time already, what’s new is that recent spam messages already contain our names. Several times I’ve deleted these kinds of messages on my phone and blocked the numbers that sent them. But the spammers still keep on coming --obviously using unregistered prepaid SIM cards in seemingly unlimited supply.

The latest one I received yesterday says: “Up T0 5K PHP Welc0m B0.n’u.s with 24/7 C@/sh In/Out http://( link redacted) W/I/N BIG C.’@.S.’H NOW!” The use of special characters and letter/number substitution is made to avoid detection by any spam filter.

Who could possibly be behind these text spams (or scams), the National Privacy Commission (NPC) still has no clue. A private telecom official suspects that the scammers may have found a way to automate the process of harvesting personal information from fintech companies operating those popular e-wallets.

A joint investigation by telcos and the NPC is suggested, as the NPC said telcos are “exerting all efforts to block and quash spammers and scammers who are also learning to outsmart countermeasures.” Congress has also taken cognizance of the problem, with a Senate panel conducting an inquiry on this last Thursday. Meanwhile, a private telco claims it has spent ?1.1 billion in capital expenditures to boost its capabilities in detecting and blocking scam and spam messages, according to the Philippine News Agency (PNA).

Much resources could have been saved and much headache could have been avoided had that proposed law requiring verification of identity of buyers as well as current holders of SIM cards been passed. It was a measure that was meant to curb terrorism, text and online scams, and anonymous online defamation, but Duterte vetoed it a month prior to the 2022 presidential election.

Notably, that was an election largely influenced by widespread disinformation. It became a common sight to see people staring like zombies, eyes glued to their glowing phone screens, captivated by an array of Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok revisionist propaganda.

In my column article last April, I wrote that Duterte’s veto was hardly surprising. Though Malacañang raised concerns that the bill will “give rise to a situation of dangerous state intrusion and surveillance,” Reuters hinted at the real reason by stating in its report: “Duterte's election victory in 2016 was partly attributed to a well-organized social media campaign, but critics have blamed pro-Duterte trolls and influencers for spreading misinformation to discredit and threaten opponents.”

Let me reiterate that a SIM card registration regime, while not without loopholes, will curb the use of unregistered SIM cards for unscrupulous activities. PNP deputy chief for administration, Police Lieutenant General Jose Chiquito Malayo, according to a PNA report, said the PNP supports the passage of a measure requiring the registration of SIM cards “which is expected to assist law enforcers in identifying culprits or scammers who use their communication devices to victimize unsuspecting individuals.”

While SIM card registration may raise concerns on loss of privacy or being subjected to state surveillance, disinformation perpetrated by trolls and media mercenaries is actually more dangerous to a society than state-sponsored intrusion.

key to any constructive or useful communication ecosystem is accountability. Without the tools or mechanisms to ensure the integrity and authentication of communication actors, the ecosystem is disturbed and unbalanced, causing negative impacts on society. A more mature society may be able to blunt such impacts. One could even say that the audience should be the one responsible in distinguishing fraud and useless garbage from what’s useful or beneficial in the communication ecosystem.

But in a developing country like the Philippines where mobile phone ownership and social media use are among the highest in the world, lack of regulation has resulted to unchecked financial fraud and disinformation activities by unaccountable actors.