Guardian: Privacy fear over (new) plan to store email etc --- effects on society

[Ben Laurie]

Ben Clifford wrote:
> 
> On Thu, 22 Aug 2002 David_Biggins@usermgmt.com wrote:
> 
> 
>>Agreed, but as I understand it, they are to be sold over the counter.
>>If cash is paid, there will be no identification, no?
> 
> 
> So prohibit cash payment for the cards.
> 
> 
>>Nobody is going to be prepared to go through a huge ID rigmarole for a
>>phone with only a few dollars of prepay credit.
> 
> 
> Shops in the US (or at least in the area where I live) are already used to
> checking people's non-mandatory government photo IDs for over-the-counter
> purchases - for example, credit card usage and alcohol and tobacco
> purchase. It is a rigmorole they *are* prepared to go through.

Not everywhere. I have friends in the US who have "please check ID" 
written on their credit cards, and they _still_ don't check.

Cheers,

Ben.

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