mobile sharing - nearly illegal in Sri Lanka

July 22nd, 2008

Click over to LIRNEasia to read about the proposed (and, it seems, now delayed) law in Sri Lanka to a) require a proof-of-SIM-ownership certificate to be carried along with one’s mobile and b) to prohibit the sharing of mobile phones. This is a level of regulation of individual behaviors which would go far beyond common requirements to register SIMs at the time of sale.  

There are issues of national security under discussion here (urgent ones, given the conflict on the island), but at LIRNEasia points out, this law would be especially onerous for lower-income users, among whom mobile sharing is quite common.  

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