So now what TRC wants? Registration of Satellite phones too?

Recently, I heard a story of a person who was not allowed to enter Fort Railyway Station with his Laptop compuer as the security personel at the station were not sure it is a computer.He managed to got into the train at Dematagoda Railway station as there were not such secutity arangement there.

We also know the stories ( I do not know whether this is true) of people were arrested having a copy of famous “Gamperaliya” at home.

Further, when you retrieve the info it appears in English. How many of mobile subscribers and the security personel in a position to understand this is a problem.

The aim of this is not to undermine the efforts of security personel who do great job in difficult circumstances. Just to highlight the practicalities and the e version of certificates… Lot of training and groud work is required to make it happen….

Few years ago , when note books are new to the country, One of my friends got really into troble when a police offer did not belive it is a computer.Appently, the police officer asked him to prove it is a computer!!!

Recently, another person was not allowed to enter Fort railway station with his Laptop, as security personel were not sure it is a computer. However, he managed got into train at Dematagoda railway station avioding Fort as there were no such security arrangement at Dematagoda.

The above two stories suggest the difficutly of implementing a electronic version of certificates. Further, the information retrieved through a shortcode will appear in Eglish. I wonder how many mobile users and Police personel in the counry can read and understand it.

Does this work even one had no credit or the connection temporarily disconnected? (Ideally it should be)

Also one should remember regular battery recharges. (A serious problem for me) Having a dead cell phone can be dangerous.

Are all Policemen trained to distinguish mobiles from other similar looking devices?

(Few years ago, while working as a systems engineer, I was setting the multimedia projector for a meeting a key minister was supposed to attend when his MSD wanted all of us out for checking. I had the remote controller of the projector with me. When re-entering room one security chap asked me demonstrate it a mobile by calling someone! It was after great difficulty I convinced him it was not a mobile.)

http://www.detikinet.com/read/2008/07/21/173635/975136/399/dilarang-saling-pinjam-ponsel!

If you are stopped at a check point,
1. How can the officer check the mobile number of the phone the user has? He has to call another mobile number and check the CLI? Or give an incoming call to the number in the document and see if the mobile rings? Can this be practically done at a check point? If the SIM card is barred for outgoing calls (which happens to most of us at the most unexpected times) someone needs to pay the bill also to before checking.

2. To check the SIM card serial number you need to remove a few parts of your phone before you get the SIM out. Can this be practically done at a check point?

3. What if a visitor is carrying a roaming SIM. May be he has to carry a document signed by the IGP?

I agree with Prof Samarajiva that a criminal or a suicide bomber could well and truly comply with all the requirement and still detonate a bomb.

When authorities implement laws they need to be more practical.

after reading these i could come out with a simple solution which i see as a good for the country security and the user.

no harm Producing an ID when purchasing but carying a license is somthing which should happen is 80s……..

i could see there is lot of practical problems when it comes to the end users.

for instance if we take rural areas in sri lanka still there arelot of families who are using one mobile for the whole family cos of its low rates..and afordability.

hence i dont see this as a gud rule

The basic principle of all law (civil and criminal) is that people have free will. The minute you put “brainwashing” into the equation, this basic principle is violated. Once you put brainwashing in, anything goes: I can kill somebody in plain sight and say that I was brainwashed.

We recognize that cars are useful things, but can be used for bad or even lethal purposes. If someone uses my car to do bad things, I am responsible, until and unless I can prove otherwise. This is what I would do with phones. I am responsible for the phone connections I subscribe to (including those I give to my children). If my phone or another phone registered to my name is stolen, I should promptly report the matter and deactivate the SIM. If after it’s stolen, it’s used for an evil purpose, I have a defense if I have taken reasonable action to deactivate it. That’s how this would work.

This would create incentives for people to be careful about who they give their phone to, or subscribe on behalf of. This would make it more difficult for criminals and terrorists to use other people’s phone for bad purposes.

Much better targeted, and simpler solution than asking 8 million people to carry receipts.

This is I guess a better alternative. But still, take these two possibilities:

My sister got a free SIM with her phone, and it’s registered to another user (someone from the same phone company i guess).

My brother got a SIM with a corporate package from a registered company that sells “couple packages” or outgoing free SIMS (as a side-business), for a very reasonable price. If you guys didn’t know already, this is a pretty lucrative business in Sri Lanka.

Anyhow, both my brother and sister are not trained terrorists. But what would happen if the LTTE captured them and brainwashed them? They would blow themselves up and the culprits would be two innocent guys from two innocent companies.

(Please consider any other possibilities that might also be possible in alternate universes, cos I really suck at giving examples.)