Passport needed to buy mobile (cell) phone

Passport needed to buy mobile (cell) phone

www.timesonline.co.uk

Everyone 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.

(visit the link for the full news article)

What further comment can be made that is not covered by David Leppard's article? At least we still have a free press that voices concern over these issues!

The fundamental issue is that, yet again, these measures will have no affect on those determined to either break the law or commit acts of "terrorism". It can only be determined as surveillance of the general public.

www.timesonline.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Why are we slaves to these devices??? I'm old enough to remember a time without this technology and guess what? we survived.This is however a worrying development,what happened to this country....the british are becoming more stupid and dumbed down by the day.

Originally posted by ho chi minh
Why are we slaves to these devices??? I'm old enough to remember a time without this technology and guess what? we survived.This is however a worrying development,what happened to this country....the british are becoming more stupid and dumbed down by the day.

I think its just a coincident that i too post about passport but its about how to Disable your passport's RFID chip !! check it out at www.abovetopsecret.com...

This was made law in Ireland in the past year. You need passport/drivers license to buy a new phone number.
Supposedly done to cut down on the amount of criminal activity that depends on using untraceable numbers.

I don't like it, there are too many crackdowns on privacy after happening over the last couple of years.

Its getting annoying.

Holy cow!

They won't need to RFID everyone like people have speculated. you can triangulate a given cell phone's position by looking at the signal, and what cell towers it bounces off of.

The government will be able to track you, and will know who they are tracking because you've registered your info.

This is a Flag/star...

NWO, here we come!

Originally posted by nj2day
Holy cow!

They won't need to RFID everyone like people have speculated. you can triangulate a given cell phone's position by looking at the signal, and what cell towers it bounces off of.

The government will be able to track you, and will know who they are tracking because you've registered your info.

This is a Flag/star...

NWO, here we come!

Current cellphones already have GPS built in. I had a phone 2-3 years ago that had it, and I didn't even know until I stumbled upon it while I was browsing the menu. There was an option somewhere in the menu where you could turn it off, but I bet most people (like me) didn't even know about the GPS.

Here in denmark for the last 5 years, i have needed passport/drivers licens to buy a new mobile phone , so this is nothing new here

we recently had a culural night in copenhagen( happens once a year , shops are open all night and free cultural stuff in churches ect.)
and the government had a test thing with phones where they could track every phone in copenhagen ,
so they could see where everyone when that night, i think they used the cell info and what tower it connects to to track people all night( they said it was all annomusly) the day after they made a "map" of copenhagen so you could see the "hot spots" i.e wher emost people when that night,
that little test really scared me, if they made a deal with the phone companyes im sure they could track everyone and get personal details also, il see if i can find a link to it.

real time rome
found this link, not from copenhagen but a test from rome

edit: linkage added
kalo

[edit on 19-10-2008 by Kalomar]

All you have to do is leave your cell phone at home if you are going off to commit a crime. It has been a long time that you could have your relative position tracked by triangulating your cell phone, nobody on here should be surprised at this. What do they think that they are going to accomplish by registering you when you by a new phone?

Remember all the phone booths that used to be everywhere? Watch some old movies and every time somebody has to make a call they run to the nearest booth.

This to me is nothing new. Where I live you have to give your social security number to any utilities to get service turned on. Water, lights, gas, phone company, cell phone company. To me that's the same thing as giving a photo id. It has been this way as far back as I can remember. So twenty some years, since I became an adult and needed to get these services turned on. Before that, my mother had to do the same thing and her mother before that. I just don't see how this is news.

reply to post by ben420


GPS or no GPS they can track u to within a few meters by cellular triangulation, so even turning off the GPS on your phone (IF it has one, a lot of phones don't) you cans till be tracked. This has been possible pretty much since the birth of the technology.

If you were going to test out total control on a population, what better choice could you make than the UK.

They stopped resisting decades ago, it should be a relatively easy move for the government to make.

Looks to be a smart choice.

Why all the fuss, no one makes you own a cell phone, its a choice. We have managed to communicate for millenia without them and its ridiculous the amount that they are used. You even have young children with them now, if you want to escape enslavement then get rid of your phone.

Originally posted by Cowgirlstraitup7
This to me is nothing new. Where I live you have to give your social security number to any utilities to get service turned on. Water, lights, gas, phone company, cell phone company. To me that's the same thing as giving a photo id. It has been this way as far back as I can remember. So twenty some years, since I became an adult and needed to get these services turned on. Before that, my mother had to do the same thing and her mother before that. I just don't see how this is news.

Cowgirlstraitup raises a very good point - this isn't "news" as such and, of course, there is the further question, "Should we care?" - What difference does it make?

Ultimately, this has to do with the erosion of "freedoms", which is always a difficult balancing act between pragmatism, state security and individual right to privacy.

The point here is that the individual rights to privacy are being eroded by a concerted effort by Government often hiding behind the pragmatism of "industry".

When we sign up to have a water supply or a phone, of course, the utility company has a right to ensure that they are not going to be conned, that bills for the supply of services will be paid. That is not an issue. However, when we start to talk about communications then there is a clear move to issues of privacy.

As an example, up to 75% of Vodafone's business is in pay-as-you-go phones. You buy the phone, often cheaper models, and you simply top up the service as you require via over-the-counter voucher cards. Essentially, there is no identity attached to the phone since there is no contract as such.

This is perceived as a problem, it has been cited that "The pay-as-you-go phones are popular with criminals and terrorists because their anonymity shields their activities from the authorities" as a reason.

Consider also that a vast number of phones in use by criminals are in fact stolen or cloned. This will continue unabated regardless of who is identified as having purchased the telephone - therefore, to a criminally minded minority (which also applies to terrorism despite the much vaunted ideological premise), whom-so-ever buys the phone is irrelevant and in no way compromises the real user's activity.

It becomes clear that the only real benefit is in the capability to eaves-drop and trace a mobile phone against it's "owner" which in the vast majority of cases will be a law abiding member of the public. There are other bills put forward that would enable Government agencies to track and monitor calls with unprecedented scale.

If a police officer stopped you in the street because you were innocently talking to a colleague and demanded your name and address and the details of your conversation most people would be offended at the invasion of privacy. However, because there is technology involved we become abstracted from invasion and can also be convinced that it is for our own protection.

In itself, this kind of proposal is yet another example of a small minded and ultimately unimaginative approach to state security. As a direct result of official incompetence, it is now deemed easier to categorise everyone as a potential "enemy of the state" rather than concentrating on the real problem. In itself it can be classed as a minor affront to the people of democracy - yet, how many minor affronts need to occur before the fundamental freedoms of democracy are no longer maintainable or even available?

Since when has a democratic Government's primary objective been the defence of the state to the detriment of defence of the people?

There are clearly issues of state security that need to be addressed, however, they won't be addressed while we still have Governments that target every man woman and child as a potential threat.

reply to post by ben420


you need to actually remove the battery to stop your cell phone sending a signal. when its just turned off it still sends a signal that can be tracked. theres a thread here somewhere, ill link when i find it.

Originally posted by magicmushroom
Why all the fuss, no one makes you own a cell phone, its a choice. We have managed to communicate for millenia without them and its ridiculous the amount that they are used. You even have young children with them now, if you want to escape enslavement then get rid of your phone.

So if the government insists on installing a tracking device in every car, you just do away with your car, right?

Then they want to install a listening device in every home, you just live in a tent, right?

Then if they require you to perform a fingerprint scan before buying food, you just stop eating, right?

Ret, stop being silly there are ways and means to get around these devices but its a choice at the end of the day if you want to use them. You are not being forced against your will are you to purchase a mobile phone. And at the end of the day who really needs them, people act as if their lives depended on such devices when they don't.

reply to post by Dermo


clearly no-one told the good people in car-phone warehouse!! i just bought a vodafone ready to go and nobody asked for any ID.

maybe it's just you dermo, thats what you get for being slightly disparaging to our fearless leader!!

Originally posted by Retseh
If you were going to test out total control on a population, what better choice could you make than the UK.

They stopped resisting decades ago, it should be a relatively easy move for the government to make.

Looks to be a smart choice.

We stopped resisting who? for the most part who we vote into Government in Britain, work for the benefit of all, sure your gonna get the odd person disagreeing, but do we have to worry about getting help if we are in an emergency? do we not get looked after if we lose our jobs? don't our kids get one of the best Educations in the World?

Now ask that of the American people, Who worry about medical bills, who get hardly any help when they lose and cant find a job, and i wouldn't want my kid taught by some religious nutter (yeah i know not all teachers are like that, but some are, find one like that in the UK, bet you cant?

I have nothing to hide from anyone, if the Government want to waste their time following me to the park then fine by me.

But to say we gave up resisting is a load of BS, we got rid of our tyrant (Thatcher) since then nobody has dared try what she tried, but I'm guessing a lot of those here where babies when Thatcher tried her crap, and you can't learn about Thatcherism in a book, you needed to experience it, if you were working class, she wanted you in your place, and she got her wish, they where, right at the front of the street battles.

Up next, how to get your power turned back on after getting caught accidentally voting for the wrong party.

The government has no right in any country to keep personal tabs on it's people. That's just asking for rights and freedoms to be trampled on by a power hungry party in the future.

But this is becoming a worldwide issue now, more and more former free countries are placing the tools of fascism on the table, and claiming it's for security.

There aren't many countries left of the free nations who are still governed by the people... The US is gone they were the first in my opinion, now the UK is heading down that path, Australia's sinking into it slowly...

I really don't like where this is heading.