<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR>Why register if prepaid phonecard owners are untraceable?
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I REFER to the last Saturday's report, 'Residents stand up to loan sharks'.
I was perplexed by the statement: 'The phone numbers that are scribbled on the walls are prepaid card numbers, signed up by people who are untraceable.'
Registration of buyers of prepaid phonecards was introduced after the Sept 11, 2001 tragedy as a way to curb the terrorist threat of using mobile phones to detonate explosive devices remotely.
Do we need to continue with the registration exercise if registered cardholders are untraceable?
Are there more effective ways to keep tabs on terrorist threats?
Chin Kee Thou
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->I REFER to the last Saturday's report, 'Residents stand up to loan sharks'.
I was perplexed by the statement: 'The phone numbers that are scribbled on the walls are prepaid card numbers, signed up by people who are untraceable.'
Registration of buyers of prepaid phonecards was introduced after the Sept 11, 2001 tragedy as a way to curb the terrorist threat of using mobile phones to detonate explosive devices remotely.
Do we need to continue with the registration exercise if registered cardholders are untraceable?
Are there more effective ways to keep tabs on terrorist threats?
Chin Kee Thou