Stupid Cell Phone law going into effect....

Although Telcel has asked for a delay, Slim said he will comply with the order. Telefonica (Moviestar) has said they won't cut off service, but the government has said if Telefonica doesn't comply, they will be cut off by whatever government agency controls these things.

I guess we are at a true "Mexican standoff". It will be interesting to see who blinks tonight.

 

Oh, OK. In Jim's post, he stated at 12 midnight Sat, so I assumed it was last night/early this morning. Well I guess we shall see what happens tonight.

My bf set up the sim when I got here. I have not been able to talk to him about it, so I guess I will sit tight like everyone else.

 

Maybe I should have said 00:00 Sunday?

 

No Jim, but I just assumed wrong, sorry for the confusion. Where I come from midnight is the next day.

 

Lots of Mexican friends who are trying to register last minute via text message are telling me that they aren't getting any response at all, no messages back. The system is likely jammed up.

 

I started to reiterate how pointless this law is and how disruptive its enforcement will be.. but at this point it really doesn't matter.. we'll just see how it plays out and if there really are criminals dumb enough to use their own phones.. and cops smart enough to actually find them... of' course this registry won't be any more accurate than the existing info the phone companies have...

I've had the thought that perhaps this is more a scheme to get people registered with their CURP's so the gov't can start checking up on taxes and such..... that would make more sense to me than the current reasoning given.... or perhaps an attempt to find people with outstanding warrants who might actually use their own info...

 

Isn't there a bit of circular reasoning here? If you have a CURP the government knows who you are. If the government knows who you are, the Hacienda knows who you are. Your ownership of a cell phone contributes nothing to the government's knowledge of your tax status, other than it knowing you can afford a phone. Maybe they can use it to call you to set up an audit? Getting "people registered with their CURPs" is a tuatological error. Those with a CURP are registered by definition.

Sometimes things, as absurd as they may appear, are exactly what they seem. In this case, no matter how many exceptions can be foreseen, the government's reasons seem quite plausible.

On the other hand, because there's always an other hand, this may be a cudgel to force those without CURPs to get one. If so, it's a no-win situation for all the obvious reasons. I really don't know what the "normal" procedure for Mexicans is as far as CURPs are concerned, but if it's anything like a Social Security number in the US, eventually everyone gets one. If you avoid it, you're trying to hide. Maybe the same thing goes on here. I'll let others more familiar with this address that point.

 

Yeah.. thats what I meant... from what I have heard there are still quite a lot of Mexicans without one, and since everyone and their dog has a cell phone here, this would be a good way to force people to get into the system.

I expect that in the coming weeks the authorities will be parading around some people on TV "arrested" or "rescued" with the help of the new database.. (which probably won't be the truth) in an attempt to justify the effort and upset the law has caused. After a few months the volume of political texts along with the other scams will skyrocket once the lists make there way into the hands of the political parties... if this effort were really about catching kidnappers and such why couldn't the law just require that cell phone companies turn over their user data upon request, if they didn't already...? chances are its just as or more accurate than this database will be anyway........ God knows there are a zillion stupid laws in the US, but generally they don't disrupt so many people's day to day activities as this will...

 

Well our phones are working and we havent done anything to them and the one we have had for over 5 years now. We never registered our one phone like what you guys are talkin about. Our other one is on a plan so I assumed they knew that it was in our name since we get a bill each month!

 

Universal says:Sólo 68% de usuarios se inscribió en Renaut - El Universal - México

1.- If you didn't register and your phone isn't turned off, it will be soon. The companies are required to start the process of suspension today.

2.- 68% (58,080,500) registered,

3.- Each company has its own procedure for people who haven't registered yet to do so.

4.- Some people have registered but haven't received the confirmation yet and the say you will receive it within the next few hours or days!

5.- Movistar retracted its position to not turn off the phones after the government said they could lose their concession. A $1.1 million pesos fine didn't scare them though.