Isn’t this already a requirement? Can you really buy a burner phone/sim without providing identifying information?

tracedddd 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

not at all, it’s easy to buy cash only tracphone, mint, boost, etc. and there are plenty of explicit anonymous providers such as phreeli.

That said, I don’t think its a problem whatsoever and we shouldn’t have laws restricting it.

	▲	downrightmike an hour ago \| parent [-]
		the only solution is to upgrade the phone system to require ID, but that would cost billions to AT&T, so that ain't gonna happen

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hstaab 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

T-Mobile prepaid accounts for example

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olyjohn 3 hours ago | parent [-]

You can just walk in there with cash and walk out with a fully activated SIM without them asking for ID?

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dgellow 3 hours ago | parent [-]

Correct

	▲	sgt 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Yes, I recall doing that. I'm a foreigner but I was in the US on vacation. Went to T-Mobile, so easy to get a SIM card.

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Zigurd 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I used to buy test phones for software testing at a bodega where they had a laundry basket full of phones, and they would sell prepaid SIMs no questions asked.

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dgellow 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

In the US you can buy a SIM card and activate without providing any information at the airport. At least in NYC. I was really surprised the first time

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kgwxd 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Why were you surprised?

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ImJamal an hour ago | parent [-]

Not who you were responding to, but most of the western world requires IDs already. The US is an outlier on this issue.

	▲	kayo_20211030 an hour ago \| parent [-]
		I don't think that's true. At least not in the European countries I visit.

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kotaKat 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Back in the late 2000s-early 2010s you could grab some Verizon bubble pack flip phones and just dial an activation string on the handset itself and it'd set up a new phone number for you and you'd just have to go add airtime with a prepaid card or credit card without having to provide anything.

Some of the LTE tablets even powered up and put you into a walled garden with data (heh, DNS tunneling worked out of it) to let you sign up for a mobile plan out of the box.

When I did some activations with PagePlus with an actual dealer-level account, it cost me nothing to activate a 'customer' handset and the only info I had to provide on the activation screens was the phone's serial number and the requested ZIP/area code for activation.

And fine, okay, the FCC will force American telecoms to require IDs, but nothing's stoping Redtea Mobile's foreign eSIMs from roaming into the US for data connections. You're just one eSIM global roaming provider away from bypassing all of it!