SA`s nine million prepaid cellphone users have to register with their cellular providers as part of a drive to eliminate telecommunications services that cannot be monitored by the state.
Anyone who owns a cellphone will have to provide "to the person who sold, or in any other manner provided" either a cellphone or SIM card, with address details and a certified copy of an identity document.
The requirement is one of many provisions that are difficult to implement in the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act, previously known as the Regulation of Interception of Communications Bill.
Although the presidency has confirmed that president Thabo Mbeki signed the Act into law in the dying days of last year, no copies of the final document have yet been made public. The law is expected to be generally available only towards the end of next week, despite the fact that it would then have been in force for nearly a month.
According to the most recent available version of the draft law, the justice minister is to publish a schedule setting out how cellular users must register their details. Provision is made for staggered registration based on birth date, surname or for certain categories of cellphone numbers.
The law will also make it an offence, carrying a jail term for conviction, to fail to report the loss, theft or destruction of a SIM card to the police. In such cases, the burden of proof is laid at the user`s door: if a SIM card cannot be produced within seven days of a request from the police, it is considered proof that it has been lost or stolen.
Similarly, possession of a stolen SIM card will be an offence unless the accused can show reasonable cause for believing the card was not stolen.
Other new offences created by the law include "unlawfully" modifying a cellphone or reverse engineering the software on any telecommunications device.
Tapping phones
The law, previously also known as the Interception and Monitoring Bill, has been before Parliament since 2001 but has only come to public attention periodically as controversy flared over one provision or another.
It was originally drafted in response to technological change in telecommunications as it became clear that there would soon be no way for law enforcement agencies to intercept cellphone and Internet communications.
Besides making provision for the infrastructure to do so, the law also, in exhaustive detail, sets out how the police or intelligence services must apply for permission to tap phones. Among changes since its first submission is a requirement that retired judges vet all requests. Such a judge would have to be satisfied that a grave crime has been or will be committed, before granting permission to intercept.
Permission may also be granted on the request of a foreign government investigating organised crime or terrorism.
Paying for interception
The law`s at times rocky ride through Parliament was partially due to telecommunications providers pointing out that they would have to spend millions of rands on equipment to make it convenient for the state to listen in on private telephone conversations.
This has not changed, and according to the final draft version, the government is to establish one or more interception centres specifically built for the monitoring of telephone conversations. All telecommunications providers, including Internet access providers, will have to provide bandwidth to the interception centres at their own expense.
An exemption may be made for any Internet provider, but only with the approval of both the minister of justice and Parliament`s National Assembly. In such cases, the law enforcement agency that requires interception of Internet traffic must make available the equipment needed, although the Internet provider will be required to assist where necessary.
After an outcry by the industry, the law was also altered to include some protection for small Internet providers through a vehicle named the Internet Service Providers Assistance Fund. It is not clear how providers will be able to draw on the fund, but those exempted from installing monitoring hardware will have to contribute to it.
The ISP Association last year warned that the added costs of interception and monitoring capabilities could result in a sharp increase in the cost of Internet access in SA.
The law has also been roundly criticised for a lack of accountability and oversight of those empowered to intercept communications.
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