this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2024
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Somehow the rest of Europe doesn't need to get people's IDs when SIM cards are sold "for basic protection of its citizens and for terrorism prevention". Further, the idea that "terrorists" won't just buy their SIMs in a different country and bring them over and using them in Germany is laughable (the only reason I did so for the couple of months I lived in Germany is because I was a heavy data user).
Also from what I've seen in Britain, having government entities unable to properly share data AND having a disproportionately high level of civil society surveillance are not at all incompatible.
I would've tended see the same association between no-IDs and no-crossing of data with low-surveillance that you seem to be making here if I hadn't seen first hand how that is not at all linked (or maybe it's actually inverselly correlated) during the time I lived in Britain.
You're not right about the rest of Europe not needing ID for a SIM. In Denmark, you need ID. In Sweden, you need ID. In Norway, you need ID. I'm sure you need in many other countries as well.
In the US, you also need an ID to open an account.
Right, I'll grant you that - can only really speak for countries were I actually bought SIMs.
I know for sure you don't need an ID in Portugal, Spain, The Netherlands, the UK and Canada, or at least you didn't back when I did bought a SIM card over there (either because I lived there or stayed there long enough that it was worth it to get one for cheaper mobile data).
Funny enough, the countries you listed (except Germany) are ones were somebody else was pointing out that people trust the authorities and are more ameanable to the authorities having lots of information about them. (I just checked back and it was actually you who said that ;))
Personally I was quite shocked that Germany, the country which had both Nazism and in some parts Communism, and were one would expect people to shy-away from anything with even the slightest wiff of Gestapo/Stasi to it, to have very explicit and obvious laws in place to make sure the authorities knew who had what mobile phone line were in place and accepted by the population.
In Germany, it's an anti-terrorist precaution. Criminals love anonymous prepaid SIMs.
You do need ID in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Spain now. I think it's the same in most EU countries. Same thing. Anti-terrorism.
Wouldn't they solve this by adding a level of indirection? Like offering to pay some schlub cash with a nice margin to buy several prepaids for them?
I looked around for The Netherlands and I found no such requirement for Pre-paid SIM cards.
Are you confusing the ones with a contract where naturally the actual mobile company wants to make sure you are who you say you are with it being a general rule for all SIMs? Can you point me at the source of that information (in Dutch would be fine, even in German I can probably read it)?
Yes, I may be thinking of a contract in the Netherlands. They may still be among a few countries allowing prepaid SIMs without registration. But I'm not sure.
I see...