Court says biometric SIM registration is legal in Bangladesh

A Bangladeshi Higher Court has declared that ongoing biometric SIM registrations using fingerprints is legal.

The court rejected a petition challenging the legality of collecting biometric fingerprint data in the SIM card registration process. In March, a lawyer served legal notice urging to halt biometric registration for SIM cards, claiming that it violates the privacy of users. The notice was served on behalf of a resident and said that the biometric data collected for SIM cards could create a high risk if national and international criminal organizations, networks or syndicates got access to the database.

The Bangladesh government has assured mobile phone users that their privacy would not be in jeopardy after they undergo biometric registration of their SIM cards and if there is any misuse of their personal data, carriers could be fined up to Tk 300 crore ($38.3M USD).

The government has initiated mandatory biometric registration for all 130 million mobile users, scheduled to be completed by the end of April.

Article Topics

Bangladesh  |  biometric data  |  biometrics  |  fingerprint authentication  |  law enforcement  |  privacy  |  SIM card registration  |  smartphones