Experts have lambasted new laws to collect information about prepaid cellphone users, citing their “severe” privacy implications.
One academic described existing rules that forced operators to retain personal call data for a minimum of three years as “excessive”.
And as of last Wednesday the government will collect more data. Operators now have to obtain the full name, address and identity number of customers buying SIM cards for prepaid services. MTN, Vodacom and Cell C have been given 18 months to get this information from customers.
Read more in the Pretoria News.