Every year, the GSMA, a mobile network and cell phone industry association, publishes a sobering report. It charts the number of countries worldwide that have implemented mandatory prepaid SIM card registration requirements.

Globally, nearly three in four mobile SIM cards in use within cell phones are prepaid. They’re the lifelines that let shift workers know when to come into the workplace and when to stay home, enable mobile banking to take place and help people stay connected with friends and family, even if they’re hundreds or thousands of miles from home.

And every year, the GSMA shows the number of these countries rising. As of early 2021, it was 157 countries. They include Mexico, which in 2021 introduced rules that would help connect SIM card registration data with biometric information to create one massive database, and Kenya, which has lately compelled telecommunication providers to message users with threats to disconnect their devices if they don’t register centrally. They join the likes of China, Myanmar, Belarus, and Venezuela in the unenviable list of countries mandating registration — many of whom can commonly be described as authoritarian regimes.

In most of the world, if you use a mobile phone, you have probably handed a good deal of personal information over to whatever company provides your service — your name, address, date of birth, national ID or social security number and maybe a few other details.