"Anybody with a brain, being a de-facto criminal or only a de-jure one, will find some of the ridiculously easy ways to acquire one without giving out a name, ..."
Well, what they should do is obvious. Post a big sign at the point of sale saying "Use of phone cards for terrorist activities is illegal and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
-TD
From: Thomas Shaddack <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: cypherpunks <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Switzerland: Another hit for phone privacy Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2003 03:06:58 +0100 (CET)
Summary: Members of al-Qaeda were using prepaid cellphone accounts purchased in Switzerland. Swiss goons figured it out, and now Switzerland wants to register buyers of prepaid cards.
My note: It will hurt only the low-grade people. Anybody with a brain, being a de-facto criminal or only a de-jure one, will find some of the ridiculously easy ways to acquire one without giving out a name, or with fake identity. The only difference will be an "anonymous surcharge", if you will know whom to ask. Another feel-good, grossly ineffective measure. If it wouldn't be so disgusting, I'd laugh.
And the cards will be prone to be smuggled. Even if the Authorities would manage to clamp down on the physical movements of goods (if they can't stop tons of easy-to-smell drugs, what success is expected with thumbprint-sized plastic cards with tiny chips), it is possible to crack out the Ki (secret key number) from the SIM card, then send it away by an encrypted mail and/or steganographed into a picture, and use it to clone a new card in the place it is about to be used. With simple software for changing IMEI, a phone that allows it (older Nokias typically should), and a couple of Ki numbers, one phone and one card and one laptop can offer enough of wireless identities.
If anything, Twist (or how they changed the name after T-Mobile took over and screwed with things) (www.t-mobile.cz), Go (www.eurotel.cz), and Oskarta (Oscard, www.oskarmobil.cz) prepaid cards are quite common here. (Warning: Oskar tends to not use old COMP128, so the method of cloning of their cards is unknown yet. They also AFAIK don't have good roaming, T-Mobile is rumoured to be better. OTOH, Oskar is cheaper. OTTH, they tend to have weird coverage.) Wondering if any changes of this are planned to happen here. I am sure Standa Gross (our Minister of Internal Affairs) and his Grosstapo thugs would have multiple orgasms if they would get this. (And what are we about to expect when we'll finally join EU, and European version of FBI ("EBI") will get formed and starts pressing through EU-wide regulations (as it's already happening, see www.statewatch.org, or details about ENFOPOL, reportedly established with the guidance of FBI, http://www.heise.de/tp/english/special/enfo/default.html )).
Links (Google News keywords: pre-paid mobile swiss): http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=105&sid=1689727 http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=2369135 http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/59/29660.html
Quote: "It's an American habit, to immediately make new laws the moment something bad happens." (Mark Pieth, professor of law and criminology, Basel University)
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