1.4 million Hong Kong SIM cards linked to real names in first month since compulsory registration enforced
by CANDICE CHAU
https://hongkongfp.com/2022/04/1 ... istration-enforced/

Users of around 1.4 million SIM cards have registered the cards under their real names since the second phase of the Hong Kong government’s Real-name Registration Programme rolled out on March 1.

Around 1 million SIM cards were issued in March, all of which were registered under the scheme. Owners of another 400,000 cards issued before March also completed real name registration last month, according to a document submitted to the Legislative Council (LegCo) by the Office of the Communications Authority ahead of a meeting on Tuesday.

The Telecommunications (Registration of SIM Cards) Regulation (the Regulation) took effect in September last year, with telecommunications operators given until March 1 to set up a registration system.

Users of pre-paid SIM cards bought after March 1 must register them to their Chinese and English names, where applicable, as well as their identity document number and date of birth. They also have to upload a copy of their identification documents.

For those who bought their SIM cards before March this year, they have until February 23, 2023, to register them or they will be deactivated.

Prior to the launch of the scheme last year, the government said that the regulation was designed to combat crimes including drug trafficking, terrorist activities, as well as phone scams. Documents about the programme submitted to LegCo in March last year did not mention matters of national security.

However, Deputy Director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office Deng Zhonghua cited the registration scheme as one of a series of policies to protect China’s national security in a speech in July last year.

I have international service with my current phone plan.  Is there any word that HK cell providers will no longer allow foreign sim cards with international plans to be used on the island? I have assumed that the HK cell companies have a contract with my US provider to access their network.  I get roaming cell service and the lower internet speeds, which is fine if you are just using it for Whathapp, Telegram, etc.

I did bring this service to China.  China's system pushed me so low the priority ladder that it was near useless during peak hours.

This is going to be a problem for folks like us. Time is ticking down to 23 February 2023 with no solution.

See below the message I got on my pay-as-you-go SIM card. I'm not sure an average person, which would include our lovely service providers, would have the ability to obtain a copy of our ID card, unless she was raped or something equally bad and she went to the police. This info can be obtained with a police inquiry. I don't expect that there are a lot of safeguards to protect people from the actions of the police. If there were proof for such safeguards, clearly now they are significantly diminished or removed altogether. Further even in the case of police breaching their own internal requirements, there is no accountability or enforcement.

A girl could be arrested for working illegally and the police department could take her telephone and get our numbers very easily , and then come after us, or blackmail us.


The message I received when last using my SIM card

Reminder: Pursuant to the Telecommunications (Registration of Prepaid SIM cards) Regulation, this Prepaid SIM card must be registered on or before 23 February 2023 in order to continue the use of Prepaid SIM card service. Please visit http://rnr.hk.chinamobile.com to register your Prepaid SIM card. For details, please visit https://bit.ly/3G20231. Please ignore this reminder if this Prepaid SIM Card has been registered.

Keep on monitoring

This is a problem to which there still is no solution. The clock is running down to 23 February 2023 when the new rule goes into effect.

It's not likely a service provider who has our telephone number can do anything with it. However if she went to the police with an allegation of rape, robbery, or some other bad thing of sufficient magnitude that she would go to the police, basically admitting what she does for a living (and to be clear for the Hong Kong 141 technicians who are here with a proper ID there is nothing illegal about what they're doing), the police would have the ability to get the Hong Kong IDs.

There could be cases where there are providers working here illegally who are arrested, and the police could take their telephones and get all of the numbers of their customers. They could then go after the customers (although it's not illegal what they do)or expose them to blackmail. Given the lack of internal controls over the actions of police and the lack of accountability when the police breach their own rules, this could easily happen. In the US there are always scandals involving a mama san who was arrested and then the police get their hands on the list of customers she maintained. The list is then somehow inadvertently leaked to the press and all kinds of famous people's names come out. It could happen here from a single girl's telephone.

This is a real problem, as I extensively communicate with my regular service providers for scheduling with my SIM.
Keep on mongering

For those of us who are lucky to continue to travel internationally (excluding myself) regularly, I suppose you can get a Sim in another country and use it here on roaming. However many countries have similar requirements. Places like India require you to have an Indian ID card (per my understanding based on visits where I try to get a local Sim card for an interim period)

Keep on mongering