I was in my local service provider’s outlet at the Borrowdale Village shopping complex yesterday to register my cell phone lines. I didn’t really want to do it but I’d been threatened with closure if I didn’t do it by the end of February. It also meant that I could have the dubious priveledge of being able to access the GPRS facility and use the phone to browse the web.
A women ahead of me had asked the obvious question; why do we have to do this? The sales lady trotted out the standard answer – mainly security and various other reasons that I did not catch. When I pointed out that when I went to the UK last year I bought a SIM card at Gatwick airport from a vending machine without producing any form of identification and that if anywhere should have security issues with cell phones it should be the UK she didn’t have an answer. So I just have to wonder who would be interested in my personal details (ID number, residential address, full name) and what phone numbers I own.
Zimbabwe Absurdity 
Here the primary ones to gain by this would be the phone spammers. But “other reasons” might apply anywhere, I suppose….