this post was submitted on 15 Oct 2023
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Privacy
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How does that help? Anonymous SIMs haven't been a thing for years.
Anonymous Sims still exist in abundance. Cash for SIM cards is a big thing everywhere I've been.
But the IMSI doesn't change so it's not really anonymous if your phone is tied to identity. Just depends on your threat model
First - the thing that is persistent with a phone is IMEI, IMSI is the one in the simcard. Second - "cash for sims" is not legal in many places, like where I live. There are places that sell illegal anonymous ones (not like you can get in trouble for that tho), but idk how reliable these actually are, and I still haven't learned to find these places consistently.
I can go to Target right now and pay in cash for a mint SIM. Where are you?
Target is USA though. A ton of countries have such policy.
In countries other than in the US, this is a major problem (I am aware of this, having spent some time in Asia)
In Germany and Spain and I suspect in the whole eu you have to show your id when you buy a sim and they register it to you.
Indeed. It is only really in the US where this is possible.
Not everyone is trying to run from total government surveillance. Sometimes, having an extra phone number, like having a pseudonym, is enough for them.