With 54 votes in favor, 49 against and 10 abstentions, the Senate plenary generally approved the National Mobile Phone Users Padron, which aims to generate a record with the serial number of the SIM card and personal information of the users.
The plenary will now discuss in particular the reservations to the opinion which reform various provisions of the Federal Telecommunications and Broadcasting Act.
? Ordinary Session of the House of Senators, April 13, 2021, https://t.co/3MOqRvMYRN
— Senate of Mexico (@senadomexicano) April 13, 2021
According to the opinion, approved in committees last week, information security will be monitored under the criteria of the Federal Laws on the Protection of Personal Data in Possession of Individuals and Required Subjects. However, these laws do not specify the special treatment of biometric data.
It also notes that the Telecommunications Institute could give telephony dealers information about cell phone users, to ensure “the veracity and integrity of the Registry”.
Read: Phone user pattern: What it’s about and why it turns on alerts about your biometric data
Whereoever, security and law endeavors could have access to Registry data; and fines are listed for misuse or non-compliance with enrollment in this user information base, which is provided to be in accordance within three years.
Various digital security groups warned of a violation of rights by the inclusion of biometric data, and also see the risk that the government will fail to protect this information, as happened during Felipe Calderón’s government, or that the authorities will misuse the data.
In this regard, Luis Fernando García, Network Director in Defense of Digital Rights (R3D) comments that these laws are “very bad, they have been of no use and in this country people’s data are systematically violated”.
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