Big brother Blyk

Join – Blyk UK, originally uploaded by Sutha Kamal.

So, looking at the Blyk signup page ... they really care about deeply authenticating who their subscribers are. This is actually pretty creepy. First it asks you to put in your name, and address. Nothing surprising here, right?

Well, it turns out if you're not on the electoral record (yes, they check the electoral record !!!) you get to provide either a drivers license or a passport number to prove who you are.

So what's this creepiness about? It's a free, ad-sponsored MVNO for youth (16-24). Is this about authenticating someone's age? Want to make sure they qualify for using Blyk, or so they can provide true demographic info to advertisers?

Isn't there a less disturbing way of doing this than using government databases, or supplying government ID?

Or is there another reason Blyk wants to truly verify who you are?

The idea that there's far more security around this than picking up a prepaid SIM at any highstreet retailer seems a bit odd, so I'm curious what it's all about...

Either way, it gives me the creeps.