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posted by takyon on Friday February 03 2017, @08:05PM   Printer-friendly
from the security-through-obscurity dept.

Not that long ago you could buy a prepaid cell phone with cash, an unlocked cell phone with cash, and a sim card with cash, without having to show any ID, in the USA. As far as I know this is now impossible. Every store now requires ID when purchasing these things. Is there any way to obtain a cell phone that respects my privacy and therefore security in the US any longer? Are these rules about showing ID state-specific? I'm curious if anyone else has recent experience trying to do what used to be the norm. Obviously any sim card or phone tied to an id, credit card, etc., offers no privacy. Thanks!

takyon: People IRL and on IRC are telling me that no, you do not necessarily need an ID to obtain a prepaid cell phone. You might want to get it months in advance of doing anything with it so that store CCTV footage is erased, and you might want to put it in a faraday cage (several layers of foil can also be used) before it is anywhere near your house or primary identity-tracked phone(s). In fact, you could do that in the parking lot of the place you buy it. Here are some related stories:

How Two Escaped Killers Could Completely Disappear Off the Grid
Bill Aims to Identify U.S. Prepaid Cellular Users
Thailand Plans to Track All SIM Cards Sold in the Country


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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 04 2017, @02:55AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 04 2017, @02:55AM (#462714)

    Every store now requires ID when purchasing [cell phones].

    Of course they do. Those things can be dangerous.

    The important thing is, you can still buy a gun with no ID or any kind of record, even if you're a drunk mentally unstable schizophrenic psychopath with a criminal record miles long, currently out on bail. Freedom!

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 04 2017, @07:26AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 04 2017, @07:26AM (#462793)

    hehe, yes. What a funny country.

  • (Score: 2) by linuxrocks123 on Saturday February 04 2017, @11:42AM

    by linuxrocks123 (2557) on Saturday February 04 2017, @11:42AM (#462816) Journal

    All the classes of people you mention are banned from firearm possession or purchase and are included in the NICS system, which all FFL holders must use to screen buyers. You could illegally buy the gun from a private individual, but you can illegally buy a lot of things.

    The problem gun control advocates have is that private individuals who aren't in the business of selling firearms don't need to use the NICS system to screen buyers when they occasionally sell a gun they don't need anymore. That's not an easy problem to solve, though, because we don't want random people to be able to access the NICS database, because that would be a mega-huge violation of the privacy of the people in that database.

    So, since we can't let just anyone do NICS checks, where does that leave us? Well, I guess we could prohibit anyone from selling a firearm unless the person is an FFL holder, but many people would consider a blanket ban like that to be pretty heavy-handed.

    I don't have an easy solution to this problem, and I have no strong opinions either way on this issue, but comments like yours are symptomatic of a sickness in our public discourse. Many issues have two or more sides to them. As a country, we'll never get anywhere if our policy discussions are reduced to echo chambers and caricatures of the people who have a viewpoint differing from our own.

    • (Score: 2) by linkdude64 on Saturday February 04 2017, @04:38PM

      by linkdude64 (5482) on Saturday February 04 2017, @04:38PM (#462864)

      The Law doesn't matter to these people.
      Obama/a politician they like says "We need to follow the law!" in a speech, and they rally and cheer because they feel like such good little boys and girls who follow the rules.

      Trump/a politician they don't like starts enforcing it? "Unconstitutional. Against our principles."

      They would burn the Constitution given the chance, never having lived in Communist China or the Soviet Union.