October 12, 2004
Phone-card register fails to ring home
The Swiss Government's attempts to crack down on criminals by having users of prepaid cell phone cards register their details have largely fallen on deaf ears, reports swissinfo.
"According to Switzerland's main telephone operator, Swisscom, only around 200,000 of its 500,000 prepaid customers have registered ahead of an October 31 deadline.
Under the new rules, people who have bought prepaid cards since November 1, 2002, have until the end of this month to register their details.
“Once the deadline has passed, the card will be cut off,” said Pia Colombo, spokeswoman for Swisscom.
“Customers will no longer be able to use their phones. But for a short period they will receive messages reminding them that they need to register.”
Regulations already in place since August mean that anyone buying a new prepaid card must show a valid identity card or a passport and have their details logged for two years.
Previously, customers could remain anonymous, which prevented the authorities from tracing calls back to them.
The government took action to set up registers after it emerged that senior members of al-Qaeda had used Swiss prepaid mobiles to coordinate their activities.
But some law enforcement officials remain unconvinced that the registration scheme will bear fruit in the fight against crime.
According to the Federal Statistics Office, there are around 2.3 million unregistered prepaid cards acquired before November 2002, which do not fall under the new regulations.
In addition, under the new rules, customer data is destroyed after two years, which is likely to create further problems.
“Criminals can just wait two years before using their prepaid card,” said Beat Künzli, Zurich's deputy prosecutor specialising in drug offences and organised crime, in an interview with the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung”.
“They will then no longer be registered and can use their phones anonymously.
“Furthermore, criminals are easier to identify via voice recognition than a prepaid card.
However, Hansjürg Wiedmer, spokesman for the Federal Prosecutor's Office, believes the new system will prove its worth.
“The registration allows us to find evidence for prosecuting crime and terrorist activities,” he said.
“We can narrow the net in which potential perpetrators may get caught.”
But Künzli says criminals have already found ways to bypass the mobile phone crackdown, creating further headaches and costs for the authorities."
Related article:
-- Switzerland forcing registration of PrePay customers -The Swiss parliament decided last year to make registration mandatory for prepaid cards, after intelligence warnings that members of al-Qaida were using them to make calls without being traced.
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