Slashdot Mirror
Passport Required To Buy Mobile Phones In the UK
David Gerard points out a Times Online story that says:
"Everyone [in the UK] who buys a mobile telephone will be forced to register their identity on a national database under government plans to extend massively the powers of state surveillance. Phone buyers would have to present a passport or other official form of identification at the point of purchase. Privacy campaigners fear it marks the latest government move to create a surveillance society. A compulsory national register for the owners of all 72m mobile phones in Britain would be part of a much bigger database to combat terrorism and crime. Whitehall officials have raised the idea of a register containing the names and addresses of everyone who buys a phone in recent talks with Vodafone and other telephone companies, insiders say."
We've recently discussed other methods the UK government is using to keep track of people within its borders, such as ID cards for foreigners and comprehensive email surveillance.
I had a similar problem when I wanted to by a SIM card in provincial Russia last month. The clerk wouldn't give me one, claiming that not only would I have to show a passport, but a Russian passport. I then just asked a friend to buy the damn thing for me. I thought it was stupid considering how, in most of the civilized world, travelers buy a SIM card from a local kiosk as a matter of course. It's sad to see the UK limiting the ease of travel, then.
I just don't understand it.
Both countries have rich and deep histories of democratic values.
Where is this coming from? The wealthy? Have they "won the game" and now want to lock it in?
Or has the military/security complex gotten too big?
These are now a much bigger threat than terrorism- which might at most kill a few thousand people. If the government goes bad while possessing all these powers, the death count will be much higher. And then you add in the "torture is okay/not really torture" right wing meme that's been building (Thanks! Liberals behind "24" for helping too with that!) -- it gets damn scary.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
It was over a decade ago when they were getting happy with CCTV cameras in London. We talked about how creepy that was and that they should be careful that they were not sliding down a slippery slope. We were dismissed, we were laughed at, and now look. We were right.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
All they got to do is create a law/rule that says you must report your phone as stolen within X many hours of you noticing it. This will give plenty of manufactured evidence to pursue your connections with other people as well as make stolen phones only viable to a little less then a week.
Suppose the rule is within 48 or 72 hours of noticing it is missing. If "Osama the Terrorist" is using it for 5 weeks, you lose your ability to claim ignorance and state the phone was stolen or lost. But if your do claim it within 48 or 72 hours, the government either monitors the calls or deactivates it. I'm sure there could be scenarios where you could legitimately lose a phone or have it stolen and not notice it for a week or longer, but it would give the law enforcement the opportunity to check out all your contacts and so on plus it might end up costing some serious cash to defend yourself after being charged.