Major Bangladesh telecoms operator Grameenphone has reached 23 million biometric verifications for SIMs under a government-backed programme.While significant, this figure still only represents around 41 percent of the operator's total customer base.”I would like to thank our customers for coming forward to participate in the re-registration process and grateful to them for their support. The channel partners are also doing a wonderful job in supporting this huge task, said Grameenphone, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Mahmud Hossain.The biometric drive follows a government scheme to re-register all mobile phone subscribers, with the customer's NID and fingerprint is verified by the Election commission (EC) against the EC's Database.The deadline for re-registration is April 30, 2016. Re-registration is being done at more than 43,000 Grameenphone biometric points across the country. The subscribers require to bring a copy of their National Identity (NID) Card, a passport size photograph and the active SIM intended for re-registration.Earlier this month, a Supreme Court lawyer in Bangladesh served a legal notice urging the country to halt biometric registration for SIM cards, claiming that it violates privacy. Md Humayan Kabir Pallab, who served the notice on behalf of a resident of Segun Bagicha in the capital, said in the notice that the biometric data for SIM cards could be used for criminal activities if it fell into the wrong hands, reported the Dhaka Tribune.

Also in the news:

Default ThumbnailWhite Paper: Secunet on kiosk systems in border control Default ThumbnailFirst speakers revealed for SDW 2018 Default ThumbnailNGO coalition calls for oversight hearing over FBI face database