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Living without a SIM card

habd.as

281–290 of 300 posts

Re: Living without a SIM card

#281
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're creating extra cognitive load for people. If there's one thing behavioral psychology has reliably taught us (in spite of the repeatability issues on a few findings), it is that our brains are wired to avoid cognitive load as much as possible. The cost of putting cognitive load is many people will choose not to pay it and that cost is instead borne by your partner Would you walk through wet mud if a grass or co…

Another metaphor: if someone decided not to pave their driveway, because they don't want it to get so hot in the summer, would you tell them, hey I'm not going to visit you until you pave your driveway?

In practical life, people who chose to live in less accessible places actually don't get visited much except by very close relatives & friends (I can think of 4-5 of my relatives like this). So probably proves the point :-)

Re: Living without a SIM card

#282
post #212
post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Banks in the US and EU are required to have the identity on file for all bank accounts (ostensibly to combat terrorism), so sharing your phone number with them shouldn’t change the level of privacy. If it is cost people are worried about they can get a prepaid card and never use it except to receive sms. That’s effectively free. Combined with the push to get rid of anonymous accounts and phone numbers there has also…

> I expect to see a time in my lifetime where a country will fully do away with all anonymous forms of payment, effectively making it impossible to be anonymous. That would mean either the elimination of poverty or a country that so hates its poor, it's willing to remove them from the economy altogether. I highly doubt that will happen, even in the US, where the poor are despised and hated by almost everyone. But the…

Many poor people already use digital forms of money. The others will probably have to resort to barter. Money is really hard to kill, though; if cash is unavailable, people will create informal alternatives.

Re: Living without a SIM card

#283
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It worries me to read that the US immigration department are using anonymised cell tower histories to trace people, It worries me to read you’re still using Facebook even though it looks like you value privacy. Why’s that? (Not trolling, serious question)

Keeping in touch with friends in other countries. Rarely, there's even targeted ads that I actually want (e.g. bands that are playing concerts nearby). I try to avoid the news feed, and usually just use messages and events. Unlike most other chat apps, Facebook has backwards compatibility for old phones. There's a limited sense of control: I choose when to update my location, employer info, Liked pages, etc. Yes, the…

Thanks!

Re: Living without a SIM card

#284
post #129

I envy the OP. Unfortunately since September 2019 living without SIM card became (practically) illegal in EU. > most online payments above €30 to go through an extra level of verification such as entering a code received via a text message. [2] Most banks unwisely chosen SMS as Strong Customer Authentication providing little choice to customers. https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/payment-services-psd-2-directi... [2] http…

Most banks in Austria mandate their own proprietary push-TAN apps and don't support SMS as a second factor. Depending on your POV this could be better or worse.

Re: Living without a SIM card

#285
post #174
post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure how common it is, but in the UK I've known people who have been forced to use their 'free' SIM or risk having the number revoked and the SIM disabled.

What do you mean? How were they forced to use a number they didn't want? Why would they care if a number they don't what get disabled?

When I had a prepaid phone you had to buy minutes once a year at minimum otherwise you lost your existing minutes and your number was disabled.

Re: Living without a SIM card

#287
post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I expect to see a time in my lifetime where a country will fully do away with all anonymous forms of payment, effectively making it impossible to be anonymous. That would mean either the elimination of poverty or a country that so hates its poor, it's willing to remove them from the economy altogether. I highly doubt that will happen, even in the US, where the poor are despised and hated by almost everyone. But the…

Many poor people already use digital forms of money. The others will probably have to resort to barter. Money is really hard to kill, though; if cash is unavailable, people will create informal alternatives.

Yeah, fuck them. Just let them resort to barter.

Re: Living without a SIM card

#289
post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why would they care if a number they don't what get disabled? If you gave it as a security contact number to a financial institution you’d care if it was disabled.

Especially since the number will generally be recycled and given to someone else ...

Eventually. Old numbers are held out of use for, I think, five years before being reissued specifically to address security and privacy issues like this

Re: Living without a SIM card

#290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since the inevitable conclusion is impossibility of being anonymous, I think we should push to ensure full transparency for all. Otherwise, it ends badly for those not in power.

This was John Brunner's solution in Shockwave Rider. So does it work for preventing scammers and telemarketers? I guess it does since you would know who is calling you.

The problem with this is the asymmetry of power relationships - if everything is transparent it is very easy for a powerful group to use that against an individual but much harder the other way around
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