Does the TRC have the right to ask us to carry PhoneIDs?

Photo by VanveenJF on Unsplash

In the few weeks that I have been incapacitated, there have been many things that have happened in the country.

If I was a superstitious man, I would say that my accident was a symbol and symptom of the unlucky period Sri Lanka has entered into.

Our eroding rights, burgeoning government usurpation of powers that were not given to it. Basically, the Sri Lankan populace getting fucked.

We're told to carry ID, to produce ID, when there is no law that specifies exactly what ID we're supposed to have. Apparently, there is, thankfully, no law that even mandates that we should all register and actually own a National Identification Card.

And yet the government, and the police, keep pushing us to have one. to carry one.

And every other possible agency seems to be getting in on the act.

This time, lets look at the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, or TRC, whose website is here at http://www.trc.gov.lk.

Yes, the website sucks donkey balls. And whatever company that made millions of rupees in the contract, should be boycotted by anyone who wants a website. But it does give some rather telling information. And that is what we're after, information.

The old site has a mission statement. Apparently their mission is as follows:

To create the optimum conditions for the telecommunications industry in Sri Lanka by serving the public interest in terms of quality, choice and value for money; the service providers with equitable access to spectrum and other common resources; and the nation in its drive for socio-economic advancement through a skilled and ethical workforce.

Typical drivel of course, but it does seem to say something. That the whole point of the TRC is to regulate the telecommunications industry. Not us. Not the users.

Then you get the section in the menu called Legislation and reading that we find a link to The Telecommunications Act. The one that created the TRC.

This is interesting too. The TA enumerates the activities, rights, and duties of the TRC. And all of them seem to be dealing with corporations, not humans.

Section 4 of the act sets the general object to be achieved by the commission. And as far as my reading goes, there is absolutely no mention of network users being regulated by the commission.

In fact, the only mention that it gets about having power over users is that which is written in section 5(f). Which says that for the purpose of achieving the objects in section 4 (which makes no mention of any users) it has the power, among others that deal with the industry, to take such regulatory measures as may be prescribed to comply with any general or special directions that may be given to it from time to time by the Government of Sri Lanka in the interest of national security, public order and the defence of the country.

So there it is.

Other than that, the TRC has no right to require users to have a PhoneID. Or even to carry one with them.

So if the cops stop you for not carrying a PhoneID in some form, you can always state that the TRC has no right to ask you to carry one. No more than the Road Development Authority has the right to ask all users of the roads to get and carry a RoadID card. (And before anyone starts commenting, a driver's licence is not and example of RoadID. It is a certificate issued by the RMV to state that you have been tested and found capable of operating a certain class of vehicle.)

Of course, this is not a legal opinion. Maybe there are others who can read sections 4 and 5 of the act and make a more learned statement. Or maybe this will help someone with a case.

But the point is here. The TRC can ask companies to check and disable accounts without ID. But, except for that one statement which is also rather ambiguous, cannot ask you to get a PhoneID. And especially not to carry one.

Good luck with the cops.

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