A network of digital advocates said that the selfie verification violates privacy of subscribers after it was abruptly included in the SIM registration process.
Digital Pinoys national campaigner Ronald Gustilo said that selfie verification is not included in the SIM registration law and its implementing rule and regulation.
“The registration requirements under the SIM registration Law and its implementing rules and regulations is clear. And it does not include selfie verification. The abrupt inclusion of this intrusive requirement violates the privacy of the registrant and it led to the glitches that subscribers experienced.”
Gustilo said that numerous online and field reports indicate that the online registration sites were overwhelmed by the volume of registrants trying to access the system. The additionaanl requirement and the rush of registrant traffic to the portals led to the brouhaha. Numerous subscribers aired their dismay after numerous attempts to register their SIMs went unsuccessful.
“From early morning until late night, many people were unable to register their SIMs. The access to the registration portals were always down. And this happened because of the short period between the implementation and the release of the IRR. When you suddenly order telcos to suddenly add requirement in the registration process a day before the implementation, it’s like shooting yourself in the foot.”
Gustilo said that the government should take steps to help the PTEs address the surge of registration requests.
“The government should setup physical registration sites to help ease the traffic in registration portals. This will also help subscribers that doesn’t have access to internet and those without smart gadgets. If only they have not rushed the implementation of this law, they would havejave thought of this earlier before D-day”
Gustilo said that should subscribers be disenfranchised due to the implementation of the sim registration law, the blame falls on to the Department of Information and Communications Technology.
“The government should be responsible in ensuring that all subscribers will be registered and no one will be left behind. Not for any reason. No individual should lose their right to communicate digitally just because of this law.”
Reference: Ronald Gustilo, Digital Pinoys National Campaigner
