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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


Original Submission

Related Stories

How Two Escaped Killers Could Completely Disappear Off the Grid 35 comments

Noah Remnick writes in the NYT that as the clock ticks on Richard Matt and David Sweat who escaped from maximum-security Clinton Correctional Facility last weekend, experts say the two escaped killers are increasingly likely to evade capture for a substantial period. "A lot of escapes are spontaneous and the guys get tripped up because they don't know where to go," says Terry Pelz. "These guys know where to go. Most guys get caught after a few hours because they don't have a plan. These guys planned their escape and planned it well, so it could take much longer to catch them." Experts say there are some cardinal rules for living off the grid. "Your first priority is finding a secure place and a source of money," says Darrin Giglio. "You don't want anything traceable, so you'll either have to establish a new identity or get paid off the books, maybe as a day laborer."

Cellphone, credit cards, and surveillance cameras have added new layers of complication and possibility for both fugitives and law enforcement. "If they're smart, fugitives can really take advantage of technology," says Frank Ahearn, a New York-based skip-tracer turned skip-maker and author of "How to Disappear". "They can buy prepaid cellphones and credit cards. Their apartments, cars and bank accounts can be set up under anonymous corporations. They can live almost entirely virtually. That wasn't possible in the past." To combat such trickery, police departments have access to increasingly sophisticated and far-reaching forms of search and surveillance. "It's easier than ever to comb through enormous amounts of data. And with surveillance cameras all over the place, the only way to avoid detection might be changing appearance. Some people even get plastic surgery," says Giglio. "It's like being in the witness protection program. To be successful, you have to give up your entire past. Most people can't do that." Under such agonizing circumstances, there is no shortage of ways to blunder. Escapees often return home or place phone calls to friends and family members, whom the police might be tracking. Other times it is an escapee's suspicious behavior that tips off bystanders. "A lot of inmates who are legitimately released encounter a confusing new life," says Pelz. "They don't know how to drive cars, use cellphones, use credit cards. They need to re-educate themselves. That can trip up escapees too. Even if it's a well-planned escape, people get sloppy."


Original Submission

Bill Aims to Identify U.S. Prepaid Cellular Users 99 comments

Congressperson Jackie Speier is a Democrat representing the 14th congressional district in California, which encompasses San Francisco and portions of San Mateo county. She has introduced a bill, the Closing the Pre-Paid Mobile Device Security Gap Act of 2016. If enacted, it would require "authorized resellers" of prepaid mobile handsets or SIM cards to collect the names, addresses, and birth dates of purchasers. Identifying documents would be required. Purchasers who give "false or misleading information" could be imprisoned for up to five years, or up to eight years for purchasers who are terrorists. If someone who is not an "authorized reseller" were to sell a handset or SIM card, that person could be imprisoned for two years, and fined. Authorized resellers who fail in their duties could be fined $50 per violation.

An article about it is on Gizmodo.

Speier press release.


Original Submission

Thailand Plans to Track All SIM Cards Sold in the Country 11 comments

Thailand is considering a proposal to track the location of all SIM cards acquired by foreigners, be they tourists or resident aliens.

The plan's been floated as a way to assist law enforcement agencies combat trans-national crime. Thailand borders Cambodia, Laos and Burma, three nations that have reasonably porous borders, seldom score well on measures of incorruptibility or governance and have form as participants in heroin supply chains.

[...] The good news is that if your phone roams, you'll be exempt. And with roaming plans now catering to travellers there's a good chance you can bring your phone to Phuket without taking a bath on roaming charges.

Resident aliens will be moved to the trackable SIMs. Many such folk move to Thailand to invest or bring expertise to the nation and are unlikely to be happy that their every move is observed. One small upside is that the nation's telecoms regulators aren't entirely sure how to make the tracking work, with cell connection data and GPS both under consideration.


Original Submission

T-Mobile and Sprint Merger Called Off After Months of Talks 10 comments

T-Mobile and Sprint, the third and fourth largest U.S. wireless carriers respectively, have called off merger talks, although they have left the door open in a joint statement:

Sprint Corp and T-Mobile US Inc said on Saturday they have called off merger talks to create a stronger U.S. wireless company to rival market leaders, leaving No. 4 provider Sprint to engineer a turnaround on its own.

The announcement marks the latest failed attempt to combine the third- and fourth-largest U.S. wireless carriers, as Sprint parent SoftBank Group Corp and T-Mobile parent Deutsche Telekom AG, show unwillingness to part with too much of their prized U.S. telecom assets. A combined company would have had more than 130 million U.S. subscribers, behind Verizon Communications Inc and AT&T Inc.

The failed merger could also help keep wireless prices low as all four providers have been heavily discounting their cellphone plans in a battle for consumers. "Consumers are better off without the merger because Sprint and T-Mobile will continue to compete fiercely for budget-conscious customers," said Erik Gordon, a Ross School of Business professor at the University of Michigan.

The companies' unusual step of making a joint announcement on the canceled negotiations could indicate they still recognize the merits of a merger, keeping the door open for potential future talks.

Also at Bloomberg, NYT, and Ars Technica.

Previously: Sprint: Purchase of T-Mobile Promotes Competition
Inside the Plan to Pull Sprint Out of its Death Spiral

Related: Sprint the Only US Telecomm to Challenge NSA
T-Mobile and Verizon Mobile Plans Change; Probably Not Better for Consumers
Are True Burner Phones Now Impossible in the USA?
T-Mobile's New 600 MHz Network Rollout Begins This Summer
Verizon Wireless Divides Unlimited Plan Into Three Worse Options


Original Submission

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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by bob_super on Friday February 03 2017, @08:14PM

    by bob_super (1357) on Friday February 03 2017, @08:14PM (#462572)

    Find desperate loner online (craigslist, dating sites)
    Agree to meet them in discrete place.
    If loner status confirmed, kidnap or kill them a month later. Hide them well.
    Use their phone sparingly for a week.
    Restart.

    It's all about proper methodology...

    • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 03 2017, @08:26PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 03 2017, @08:26PM (#462578)

      The scary thing is that I am sure there is at least one person out there who is taking your suggestion quite seriously. While I am sure that "bob_super" is an alias, I'm also quite sure that it can easily be traced by law enforcement (or, indeed, just about anyone with the patience and desire to know) to a real person. I see lots of lawyers in your future.

      • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 03 2017, @10:27PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 03 2017, @10:27PM (#462623)

        Totally agree. Using the same phone for a week is a sure way to get caught. Obvious stooge is obvious.

    • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday February 03 2017, @09:03PM

      by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Friday February 03 2017, @09:03PM (#462591) Journal

      Ah tell yew hwut, that boy ain't right...

      --
      I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
    • (Score: 2, Informative) by DaTrueDave on Friday February 03 2017, @10:53PM

      by DaTrueDave (3144) on Friday February 03 2017, @10:53PM (#462640)

      Discrete=separate, individual
      Discreet=on the down low

      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by bob_super on Friday February 03 2017, @11:02PM

        by bob_super (1357) on Friday February 03 2017, @11:02PM (#462645)

        Dang! I normally get that one right.

      • (Score: 5, Funny) by Justin Case on Friday February 03 2017, @11:56PM

        by Justin Case (4239) on Friday February 03 2017, @11:56PM (#462672) Journal

        You misunderstand. He meant to say meet in a separate, individual place. Surely not a together, public place!

  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 03 2017, @08:21PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 03 2017, @08:21PM (#462576)

    Even if legitimately buying anonymous phones was completely impossible, the illegitimate way still works well: Pay somebody to send bums into the store to buy you phones. This way is much smarter in the first place anyway, you never show up near the phones on record unless you're really incautious, and the likelihood of any of your temporary employees even remembering buying the phones is quite slim.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 03 2017, @08:30PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 03 2017, @08:30PM (#462579)

      While the bum may be drug addled, the bum will probably have a stronger memory of you than a cashier who handles dozens of transactions every day.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 03 2017, @08:47PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 03 2017, @08:47PM (#462588)

        The problem isn't the cashier's memory, but the actual records their systems keep.

        • (Score: 2) by takyon on Friday February 03 2017, @09:59PM

          by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Friday February 03 2017, @09:59PM (#462607) Journal

          If you pay in cash and they erase old surveillance footage, then those records don't matter.

          --
          [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 04 2017, @04:21AM

            by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 04 2017, @04:21AM (#462744)

            Definitely. In most cases that security camera footage gets deleted before too long. A company isn't going to bother storing thousands of hours of footage that they don't need on the off chance that 6 months from now somebody will be interested in something on it. If they don't see something about the transaction now that causes them to save the video, chances are that within a month or two it'll be wiped.

            I think the place I used to work only kept the footage for a month or so. In most cases, there isn't the manpower to review all of it anyways. Any review of the footage is based upon when they think something is relevant and probably no spot checks either.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 04 2017, @04:08AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 04 2017, @04:08AM (#462738)

        Yes, but is the probability that the cashier will remember the bum, multiplied by the probability that the bum will remember you, greater or less than the probability that the cashier will remember you?

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 04 2017, @04:22AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 04 2017, @04:22AM (#462745)

        Send the bum to another city, or take him there in the storage space of your car. Let him out near some stores to buy the phones. Take the phones, turn them off (or put them inside a Faraday cage). Pay the bum and take him back to his home, or buy him a train ticket. Done.

    • (Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday February 04 2017, @01:35AM

      by Ethanol-fueled (2792) on Saturday February 04 2017, @01:35AM (#462689) Homepage

      This awesome tactic is how my friends and I enjoyed beer and cigarettes every weekend at age 14.

      Which means that if you use such a tactic, then you are up to no good.

  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Justin Case on Friday February 03 2017, @08:46PM

    by Justin Case (4239) on Friday February 03 2017, @08:46PM (#462587) Journal

    That phone remains tied to an unknown person until the first time you use it. Then there's a link from your phone to whoever you called. Two to three more calls and they're starting to build out your unique social network graph. Maybe you need a random dialer to muddy the waters about which calls are real.

    For my use case I don't care that they know the phone is being used by me. I mean there's no getting away from that anyhow. I just want a phone with a whitelist of numbers that are allowed to call (or text) me. Anyone else makes the attempt: I never know. It doesn't ring; it doesn't collect voice mail. And most assuredly it doesn't cost me for the privilege of receiving SPAM.

    Anyone know where to find that?

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by jelizondo on Friday February 03 2017, @09:16PM

      by jelizondo (653) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 03 2017, @09:16PM (#462592) Journal

      I use Mr. Number [google.com] and it mostly works as advertised. Apparently some numbers have a code or something that allows them to make it past the filter, but the phone rings once and then they are gone. About 99.9% are caught and filtered, so it is good enough.

      You can decide to keep a history of calls/SMS or not, so you can 'rescue' numbers that are from friends or whatever.

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by Arik on Friday February 03 2017, @09:49PM

        by Arik (4543) on Friday February 03 2017, @09:49PM (#462602) Journal
        He asked for a whitelist he could administer and you link a blacklist someone else administered.

        It may work well for you but it's nothing at all like what he's asking for.
        --
        If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
        • (Score: 4, Informative) by jelizondo on Friday February 03 2017, @10:17PM

          by jelizondo (653) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 03 2017, @10:17PM (#462618) Journal

          I use Mr. Number. You CAN administer your own listing, i.e., any number not in your contacts or address book is redirected to voicemail or just terminated, your choice, leaving a record or not. You can (or not) mark unwanted numbers a number of ways (spam, debt collectors, etc.) to help the community.

          What more administration do you want?

          • (Score: 2) by Arik on Friday February 03 2017, @10:31PM

            by Arik (4543) on Friday February 03 2017, @10:31PM (#462626) Journal
            Not more. Less.
            --
            If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
            • (Score: 3, Insightful) by requerdanos on Friday February 03 2017, @11:21PM

              by requerdanos (5997) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 03 2017, @11:21PM (#462653) Journal

              Less.

              Choosing not to install such an app would provide the "less" you seek via features already not present in the phone itself.

          • (Score: 2) by Justin Case on Friday February 03 2017, @11:28PM

            by Justin Case (4239) on Friday February 03 2017, @11:28PM (#462659) Journal

            I'm not trying to speak for Arik but here's what I would like:

            1. I admin a whitelist of my friends. Potentially, anyone I call may be easily added to that list.

            2. That's it. No other callers/texters can penetrate my universe. At all.

            • (Score: 2) by jelizondo on Saturday February 04 2017, @04:36AM

              by jelizondo (653) Subscriber Badge on Saturday February 04 2017, @04:36AM (#462749) Journal

              So if the 'whitelist' is called your Address / Contact Book, you have a problem? It must be called a 'whitelist'?

              Anyone NOT on your address/contact book CAN be banned to: your choice: 1) voice mail or 2) terminated (i.e. no voice mail, no nothing)

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 03 2017, @09:39PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 03 2017, @09:39PM (#462596)

      Or the latter only with audio/text encryption and a remote burner phone.

      If data caps were bigger there would be no excuse for using voice/text anywhere, replaced by email/im/voip+assorted data services. Far more anonymous when done correctly too.

    • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday February 03 2017, @09:59PM

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 03 2017, @09:59PM (#462605) Journal

      Don't use a burner phone to call anyone in your real social graph. Use it for something else that you would not use your primary phone for.

      For example, prank calls asking to page someone of a certain name.

      Or use it for other porpoises.

      --
      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
    • (Score: 2) by jdavidb on Friday February 03 2017, @10:07PM

      by jdavidb (5690) on Friday February 03 2017, @10:07PM (#462610) Homepage Journal

      You can get pretty close to that with Google Voice [google.com].

      --
      ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
      • (Score: 3, Informative) by Justin Case on Friday February 03 2017, @10:15PM

        by Justin Case (4239) on Friday February 03 2017, @10:15PM (#462616) Journal

        I appreciate the offer of potentially useful information. However I tripped over this, from your link:

        "When people in this group call you" ... select the phones that you want them to ring when they call.

        That makes it sound (to me) like Friend A calls Google Voice Number X, and because Friend A is on my whitelist, the call gets forwarded to Number Y, which is my true phone number.

        Meanwhile, what stops asshats from random robo-dialing Number Y?

        Telemarketers have so severely chummed the water that the phone is almost not a useful communications tool any more. S/N ratio lower than 1%.

        • (Score: 2) by jdavidb on Saturday February 04 2017, @01:17AM

          by jdavidb (5690) on Saturday February 04 2017, @01:17AM (#462687) Homepage Journal
          In my case, Number Y is a cell phone and almost nobody knows the number. I get almost no calls at all directly to it.
          --
          ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 03 2017, @10:08PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 03 2017, @10:08PM (#462611)

      Two to three more calls and they're starting to build out your unique social network graph.

      That's why you only use the burner phone to call the other members of the transsexual furries foot-fetish club.

      Amirite guys?

      ...Anyone?

    • (Score: 2) by Magic Oddball on Friday February 03 2017, @11:02PM

      by Magic Oddball (3847) on Friday February 03 2017, @11:02PM (#462644) Journal

      It's not a separate phone, but I use a 'perpetual-demo' version of Embware "Blocker" pretty much the way you describe. It's not pretty or trendy-looking, but it's the sort of option-packed program that appeals to people like me who want to be able to customize the hell out of it.

      In case you want to read about it, the official page (which now shows it costing about $5) is:
      https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=embware.phoneblockerPRO [google.com]

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 03 2017, @11:54PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 03 2017, @11:54PM (#462671)

      What you are looking for is called "blocking mode" on Windows phone... Just select the option and restrict contact. However you have to allow Microsoft to scan your incoming texts and trust that they won't share the info.

    • (Score: 2) by bart9h on Saturday February 04 2017, @03:02PM

      by bart9h (767) on Saturday February 04 2017, @03:02PM (#462845)

      I just want a phone with a whitelist of numbers that are allowed to call (or text) me.

      Sanity [google.com] does that, and more.

  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by BsAtHome on Friday February 03 2017, @08:48PM

    by BsAtHome (889) on Friday February 03 2017, @08:48PM (#462589)

    Even a phone that has no name or ID associated can be tracked to its owner. If you use the phone in a normal matter, then the pattern of calls placed, to whom, for how long and from where, will be able to pinpoint you personally.

    That is what meta-data is all about. That is why meta-data is more dangerous than the bloody obvious non-privacy regulations. Big data analysis on the meta-data will get to the target or, at least, very close to it. Don't believe me? Please read https://kieranhealy.org/blog/archives/2013/06/09/using-metadata-to-find-paul-revere/ [kieranhealy.org] and see what just a mere minimum of data reveals.

    Welcome to the new world. Please wake up and become aware of where you are.

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 03 2017, @08:50PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 03 2017, @08:50PM (#462590)

      Even if you can be found in other ways, compromising yourself from step one is self-defeating. People should resist in whatever ways they can, even if their resistance isn't perfect.

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by requerdanos on Friday February 03 2017, @09:33PM

    by requerdanos (5997) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 03 2017, @09:33PM (#462595) Journal

    I have bought several phones at the independent wireless store near my home (a guy named Alex who buys & sells used phones and sells cell phone service). No ID required, just cash.

    Sim cards for H2O [h2owirelessnow.com] (works on AT&T network/phones) and Net 10 [net10.com] (Works on AT&T or Verizon networks/phones), and service cards/refill cards for these prepaid networks, can likewise be purchased with no ID, just cash. The sign there says "Cash Only" for cell phone service cards, in fact. Other networks offer similar service for phones from Sprint and maybe others, thus there's not necessarily a need for an unlocked phone to get no-ID service.

    The result is almost indistinguishable from having a phone from a major carrier, the differences being settings for data service and the method of paying for them (pre instead of post).

  • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Friday February 03 2017, @09:59PM

    by MostCynical (2589) on Friday February 03 2017, @09:59PM (#462604) Journal

    do any voip apps not transmit IMEI or handset data, because then you could use them with "free" wifi (cafés, shopping centres?)
    Maybe even just use voip on a tablet without a sim.

    --
    "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
    • (Score: 1) by baldrick on Saturday February 04 2017, @06:48AM

      by baldrick (352) on Saturday February 04 2017, @06:48AM (#462786)

      you probably need to randomise your MAC

      --
      ... I obey the Laws of Physics ...
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 03 2017, @10:14PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 03 2017, @10:14PM (#462615)

    There's still some in front of every 7/11

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 03 2017, @10:45PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 03 2017, @10:45PM (#462638)

      Pay phones are OK in a pinch if you need to take a leak. Ones that can make calls are rare these days.

  • (Score: 2) by ilsa on Friday February 03 2017, @10:31PM

    by ilsa (6082) Subscriber Badge on Friday February 03 2017, @10:31PM (#462625)

    Or, you can get a cell phone or tablet (tablets have larger antenna arrays and so are better able to deal with weak signals), install a voip client, and use a free VOIP service for your calls instead. Assuming you bought an android or ios device, you could then install a VPN client so that the SIP connection appears to be coming from somewhere else.

    So you are still tied to the purchase of the phone, SIM, etc. But there will at least be separation between your calls and your device.

    Course, I can't vouch for the audio quality...

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 03 2017, @10:32PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 03 2017, @10:32PM (#462627)

    .... Trump will soon have all those pesky privacy holes patched for us!

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

      by jelizondo (653) Subscriber Badge on Saturday February 04 2017, @04:42AM (#462752) Journal

      Look out! He's about to patch your pesky hole!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 04 2017, @08:56AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 04 2017, @08:56AM (#462803)

      I almost didn't think about politics for 15 seconds today! Luckily an anonymous retard stepped in and saved me.

  • (Score: 5, Funny) by Bot on Friday February 03 2017, @11:24PM

    by Bot (3902) on Friday February 03 2017, @11:24PM (#462656) Journal

    there are way less burners now that they retired the galaxy note 7.

    --
    Account abandoned.
  • (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!

    • (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.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 04 2017, @12:30PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 04 2017, @12:30PM (#462822)

    There is no way to use a mobile phone with a SIM card in Thailand if you don't activate it first.
    the activation process requires a ID card number ... now you can lie about that?
    Also the shop that sells SIM cards wants a copy of your ID card.
    how this random-on-street-corner-making-a-living-mom-and-pop-shop then gets your ID card number into
    the big-3 mobile phone networks operators database .. i don't know.

    also visiting singapore and wanting to make "cheap" local calls thru a local SIM
    card required me to produce a passport on purchase of said SIM card at airport ...

    Also the news link title "Thailand Plans to Track All SIM Cards Sold in the Country" is
    misleading.
    ALL energized SIM CARDS are TRACKED! it's how the mobile network works.

    How-the-fuck will a caller find you (w/ a call to you) if the mobile phone network doesn't know where you are!??
    Do people actually think that there's ONE MONSTER HUGE ANTENNA in the middle of the country that
    sends signals to everyone anywhere in the country?
    or maybe there's a tiny dwarf in the mobile phone that magically creates a tiny space-fold w0rm-hole with
    his magic wand to the callees location (thru some magically premonition the dwarfs just knows where to open the hole too)
    so that the distance between the caller and callee shrinks to a distance that is manageable by the puny antenna in the
    two handsets respectively?

    EVERY SIM that is active is thus tracked ... not just in thailand.

    the (thai) news is rather that in the next 5 years, not only is the ID card number connected to a SIM but also the FINGERPRINT
    of your finger ... because of cash-less commerce safety, you know.

    now, two-way authentication joins the fray and wants to know who you really are, also. and everything you do, buy, say and even think(?) will be searchable
    for a better society ... better be on the commanded good side then ... or else go stand in that corner with the donkey hat.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 04 2017, @12:44PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 04 2017, @12:44PM (#462824)

      anyways .. since spending money is exhausting and everybody know thai people like to take it easy, maybe the clubberment
      can issue an ord... err .. recommendation that now, since all SIM users are uniquely identifiable, every SIM user can text:
      "#123*insert-mobile-phone-number-here" and get a SMS with the name of the user of said "insert-mobile-phone-number-here".
      this should save alot of tress from turning into phone books! go green!

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 04 2017, @12:34PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday February 04 2017, @12:34PM (#462823)