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Hypothetical: Could a tryannical government decide which citizens get to use a device with a SIM card?


chuck norris 42

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Our societies will probably become cashless fairly soon, we will use smart devices instead , Will this make internet service providers all powerful 

Could a tyrannical government disable smart devices with a SIM card by forcing the service providers to disable all sim cards unless they user has proven their identity to a government crony

 

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22 minutes ago, chuck norris 42 said:

Our societies will probably become cashless fairly soon, we will use smart devices instead , Will this make internet service providers all powerful 

Could a tyrannical government disable smart devices with a SIM card by forcing the service providers to disable all sim cards unless they user has proven their identity to a government crony

 

In Australia (if I remember correctly) you can already only buy a SIM card after providing ID, and I think the Netherlands was going the same way. And of course the same is already true for bank accounts.

So accepting proxies for government, yes that is the future.

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13 hours ago, Selibration Srbija! said:

In Australia (if I remember correctly) you can already only buy a SIM card after providing ID...

Yes, although it's rarely used for law enforcement. That's not to say that it's not used for that, it's just much more commonly used to pursue unpaid phone fees. I'm not entirely sure if it's a legal requirement or a requirement from the telcos.

It's always worth keeping in mind: for whatever reason, people are (correctly) skeptical of their governments and hold them to account for their actions. But they are not so careful to scrutinise companies who answer to no one but their own interests.

In short, giving your details to a company doesn't make you safe if that company is unethical (for some reason Facebook springs to mind...), but at least you can do something about an unethical government.

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