The government unveiled plans to require people in Hong Kong to provide their real name and other personal details when registering mobile phone numbers, a move that critics said would further curtail people’s freedoms and stoke fears of surveillance
HONG KONG—The government Tuesday unveiled plans to require people in Hong Kong to provide their real name and other personal details when registering mobile phone numbers, a move that critics said would further curtail people’s freedoms and stoke fears of surveillance.
Officials said the change was necessary to aid investigations by law-enforcement agencies and would help tackle thefts by phone scammers preying on city residents, as well as drug trafficking and other organized crimes. It puts Hong Kong in line with about 155 countries including France, Germany and South Korea that have similar measures, officials have said. In the U.S., there is no federal law mandating people buying prepaid SIM cards to have their identities verified.
The proposal has touched a nerve in the Chinese territory, however, where fears of surveillance run high amid a
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