Minister defends mobile registration plan
Civil liberties will not be infringed by plans to require all mobile phones to be registered, Junior Minister for Drugs Pat Carey said today.
The move, which is part of the Programme for Government, is aimed at helping gardaí improve surveillance on drug dealers and to crack down on the use of mobile phones in prisons.
Carey admits that the plan raises questions about confidentiality, privacy and civil liberties, but he says cracking down on crime overrides these concerns.
He says all data protection regulations will be complied with and "if somebody has nothing to hide, they have nothing to fear".
Digital Rights Ireland, however, says the move jeopardises the public's freedom of communication and freedom of movement.
It says the registration proposal would effectively allow the Government to track the movements of any citizen with a mobile phone.
