Comments on: A passport will be needed to buy a British mobile phone

By: Nestor

Nestor — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:39:27 +0000

I think the phone is not a problem, since you can buy unlocked phones all over the world at a decent price.
And buying a SIM card isn’t that much of an issue for terrorist (people with no good intention), since (like you said) they can buy them on the black market… By hundreds!!!!!!
Well isn’t that a clever law in order to make things more difficult for the “normal” people????

By: khurt

khurt — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:13:19 +0000

The honest folks who are buying prepaid because they can’t afford a contract will be unduly burdened because they are also the members of society least likely to have a passport.

By: Andrei Buiu

Andrei Buiu — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 09:41:49 +0000

In my country you can buy just a pre-paid SIM, without the phone. No ID required. Of course, when I was in high school we had like 7 “bomb threats” – all fake – from students who didn’t want to stay in class anymore. So I would like the idea that every SIM is issued on ID and the cell phone companies know who that person is. Regarding the steeling part – they’ve stole my phone(same model-I called it hex or really bad luck) 2 times and in both cases they gave me my SIM back (assaulted with a knife in both cases, they took just the phone and gave me my SIM – very nice of them – grrr). If they didn’t gave me my SIM back in the next min I would be on a public phone blocking the SIM (we have a free number to do that).

By: Yupa

Yupa — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 01:22:33 +0000

This has been the norm in Australia as long as I can remember (we sell prepaid mobiles where I work). Purchase of a prepaid mobile or start-up sim pack requires ID – either 1 photo ID or 2 non-photo IDs. Nobody ever complains about it except the young kids who don’t have any ID. And of course, we’re not identifying the user of the phone, just the purchaser. A lot of prepaid mobiles are bought as gifts.

By: Mlh

Mlh — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:21:34 +0000

You can quote ‘ol Abe and chant the civil liberties mantra, but criminals are ahead of the curve when it comes to using technology to their advantage.