Send the government your fingerprints or lose your cell phone service

In an effort to create a national biometric database, Pakistani authorities are giving cell phone users an ultimatum: Verify your identity by submitting your fingerprints to the government, or their phone service will be shut off. Mobile use in Pakistan has skyrocketed over the past decade, and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority estimates that more than 100 million citizens use cell phones. The measure is a response to the Taliban schoolhouse massacre in Peshawar last December, where more than 140 students and teachers were killed. In the days leading up to the massacre, the six perpetrators communicated through cellphones that were registered to a Peshawar woman unrelated to the attack. By making sure every SIM card in Pakistan is traceable to an identity and a set of fingerprints, officials say they hope to prevent such an attack from happening again.