Namibia: Legally Dodgy Harvesting of Biometric Data

News Update |

MTC is scanning fingers and taking facial photos, while legal frameworks only require basic information for SIM registration.

IN A USUALLY empty retail space just around the corner from the box office inside the MTC Dome at Swakopmund, a crowd of people recently had their fingerprints scanned and then a photo taken of their faces by MTC Namibia employees.

The same was happening inside the MTC Dome arena where MTC Namibia officers were also accepting forms, scanning fingers and taking photos of patrons of the four-day Namibia Sport Expo, which ran from 8 to 11 December.

Namibia’s biggest mobile and internet service provider used the opportunity to encourage its customers to register their SIM cards, with the deadline looming for mandatory SIM card registration, 31 December 2022, just weeks away.

This article was first publish by the Namibian site on Dec 27, 2022.