According to reports, Britain is preparing to expand its surveillance powers once again by requiring all cell phone buyers to register their identity at the time of purchase. If the program is carried out, a passport "or other official form of identification" would be tied to the phone when it is bought, bringing the 72 million or so phones in the UK under the watchful eye of Britain's staunch anti-crime and terrorism units.

According to the Times Online, the plan is largely targeted at the 40 million-plus prepaid mobile phones, which are the preferred means of communication of criminals since they can be purchased with cash and without a contract. Naturally, though, the millions of law-abiding citizens of the UK who don't want the government eavesdropping on every conversation aren't terribly thrilled about the plans.

The phone database is just a small part of a plan to dramatically expand surveillance in the country: The government wants to build a database of Internet browsing habits, email, and telephone records, all tied up together. The database plan is meeting considerable resistance though, and it isn't likely to be formally announced until next year. That said, cell phone companies already appear to be preparing to comply with the database plan.

As a curious side story, Gizmodo notes that the hassles of requiring a passport are nothing compared to what foreign cell phone buyers living in Japan have to go through to get a handset, outlining a process that requires a month-long wait (plus other hurdles) to get a resident card just to get a prepaid phone.