Sim Card and Phone
Today the government announced an initiative to register all sim cards in an effort to curb cyber crime, this is nothing new. Kenya is the second country in the east Africa after Tanzania, and others within the African region are, South Africa, Cameron, Ghana and Nigeria.
So is this going to be effective? Yes to some extent this will be effective in controlling those issues that are more of a nuisance than the actual crime’s, Registering a Sims card is not an effective crime fighting tool, it will definitely not stop the kidnapping, carjacking or other crimes but it will deter the criminals, the bigger beneficiaries will be the telecoms and the government, the telecoms will have better customer services knowing who their clients are, hence more targeted products and marketing and the government will have the data for cellular usage etc
I initially had the following concerns when I heard the announcement, some of them have been answered others are pending… Do you have any clue?
- Will sim cards be sold in kiosks and traffic jams?
- How will they verify that the details you provide are actually the ones if you live in Kibera and don’t have utility bill?
- What about tourists who are visiting for a few days can they own a sim card?
- What about minors? those 14 year olds without ID’s? – Parents will have to register for minors… orphans?
- Information confidentiality, we need to be assured that we will not receive marketing emails after we provide our information – Safaricom, YU, Orange and Zein might be safe, but if we have to register at a kioks in the village… ?
It goes without saying that this will provide a few challenges, and its effectiveness remains to be seen
