Britain to Require Passport to Buy Cell Phone
The UK government plans to REQUIRE ALL CELL PHONE BUYERS TO PRESENT A PASSPORT -- even for pre-paid cell phones. All data, especially data linking cell phones to individual people, will go into a central anti-terror database.
2:13 PM * PERMALINK * 2 comments
Comments:
I can think of at least one MASSIVE flaw in this plan....eBay. There are thousands of phones one can buy new and second hand.
I'm surprised it took them this long, it'll be interesting to see how this plays out. The eBay thing is only a temporary glitch, just like the existing pre-paid plans out there. They need an active SIM for a phone to be useful which means that a legitimate seller of a SIM would be tracked down should it be used for nefarious purposes and he would be the primary suspect until he turns over the buyer. Either that or the SIM was stolen and eBay will help track down the seller and the buyer to the best of their ability. Either way every active SIM in the country will soon be tied to an ID.
The real issue is overseas SIM cards. Nothing prevents them from getting a French pre-paid SIM and spending a fortune on calls to UK numbers while in staying in London. Just like anything, if you outlaw it only the outlaws will have it. But it's nice to know all the law-abiding citizens will be properly tracked. :)
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