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And again, a new measure that will affect everybody except criminals, who pay a drug addict to register hundreds of these cards.
Otherwise it would be a waste of time and money.
An ID document and proof of address are already required in Germany when buying SIM card directly from mobile network operators (i.e. Telekom, O2, Vodafone). Apparently they plan to apply the same to resellers and virtual operators.
I bought a 10EUR SIM with a US driver's license (had left my passport in the hostel, and just wrote down the address of the hostel I was staying at).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, only the criminals that put some effort. Somewhat effective at tracking down the lazy criminals. Also, in places like Singapore, you can only own 5 Data SIMs before they start asking tougher questions. I wasn't aware there were countries that you could purchase data SIMs in without having to hand over passport/government ID, I'd just assumed that was a ubiquitous practice.
In the Netherlands you can buy sim cards without any ID. If you pay them cash, there is no link to you, except maybe a security camera in the shop. You don't need to activate them - they work right away.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I think these checks are probably already pretty common in other parts of the world. Germany is a bit touchy when it comes to measures like this. After the experiences of the Nazi regime, even things like a census or introduction of a TIN met massive, years long resistance. One election gone wrong is all it takes and all those data will be used for genocide. Again.
FYI: the TIN is a unique number associated to each person living in Germany. New born babies are getting a TIN faster than most of the congratulation cards... It is issued by the tax authorities and as a foreigner living in Germany you also get one.
Identity is a right that government must warrant, not something dirty that should be buried.
Thankfully because there's no roaming in the EU, there's absolutely no other way to get an unregistered SIM card to work in Germany..
At which point you can just get your anonymous SIM from any EU country that still issues unregistered SIMs.
Edit: I may have missed the sarcasm in the parent post..
Is this so bad? I remember back in 2012 when I visited Berlin I had to register my SIM with my Belgian ID and address too. It only took a few minutes, it's not that much of a hassle. At the phone shop in Belgium where I work we were required to ask for a name and address too (but didn't check ID's for prepaid cards). I doubt this will solve much terrorism-wise though. You can't expect phone shops to verify the validi…
What problem is being solved then? In the best case it is simply power tripping busywork that makes the world a little bit more annoying.
And again, a new measure that will affect everybody except criminals, who pay a drug addict to register hundreds of these cards.
Most criminals aren't masterminds (and the few who are, are genrelly designed with other names, such as "politicians"); if you make it difficult to procure a phone, and a weapon, and to hide on the net, etc., many of them won't be able to assemble everything they need to commit serious crimes without getting caught.
One of the reasons why gun homicides are so much less prevalent in Europe is that if a minority of hardcore, resourceful criminals can find guns through black markets, most of the random losers can't: too complicated, too expansive, some planning-ahead required... And the many losers are the ones causing the bulk of criminality, not the few hardcore criminals.
And again, a new measure that will affect everybody except criminals, who pay a drug addict to register hundreds of these cards.
It's not intended to stop criminals. It's intended for surveillance and tracking of the population. Otherwise it would be a waste of time and money.
Main points of the article: For purposes of terrorism prevention, the current German government wants to require sellers of SIM cards to check photo ID and ask for current address. If this happens, it will be (theoretically) impossible to own a German phone number that isn't connected to a name. The address data is supposed to be put into a searchable database allowing security officials to search for names even if t…
How many terrorists are entering Europe using real names and papers? How many have faked photo ids? Now they know its coming, won't they just stick up on sims first? This seems stupid to me.