DOJ questions bill requiring ‘kill-switch’ on mobile phones

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MANILA, Philippines–With the support of the Department of Justice (DOJ), several bills have been filed in the House of Representatives, mandating that users of prepaid phone services register their subscriber identity module (SIM) cards with the service provider.

If passed and enacted as law, these bills would enable authorities to trace the user of the prepaid numbers, in cases of phone theft and other crimes in which cellular phones are employed.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, however, voiced out her reservations about another proposal requiring the National Telecommunications Commission and cellular phone service providers to pre-install a “kill-switch” software in all cell phones.

This would allow for the units to be remotely disabled – and all data on the phone, deleted – should the phone fall into the hands of thieves.

In a letter to Rep. Joel Roy Duavit, chair of the committee on information and communications technology, De Lima said: “We laud the intention of the proponents [but] this department has reservations as to the method of pre-installing the kill-switch software considering that hackers may be able to gain access to the ‘kill message’ that would be installed in these mobile phone.”

Authored by AMA party-list Rep. Lorna Velasco, the proposal requires that “reliable and perfectly functioning” kill-switch software be pre-installed in mobile devices.

The software would then be activated by request of the registered subscriber, following proper necessary verification.