Uh oh. This is antithetical to the Eu's policies for distributing digital tech to solve social problems. Somebody is radically shifting policy faster than the government researchers can advise them. I wonder what the motive for this move is?

That's really scary. As bad as the USA is getting, its always depressing to see somewhere worse

does this mean that UK citizens will no longer be able to buy phones online from a foreign vendor? Or does it mean that said vendors would have to somehow begin creating a database of UK citizens that they sell phones to? It may not be a problem for a company although they may just choose not to ship it there but what about individuals that sell on e-bay and the like, or relatives living abroad that may want to send a phone to someone living in the UK? Makes for an interesting case, seems to be overreaching on the part of the UK govt. though, perhaps they need another Gloriest Revolution?

scruffy1: Gloriest=Glorious

FTFM

A compulsory national register for the owners of all 72m mobile phones in Britain would be part of a much bigger database to combat terrorism and crime.

This is just one more example of the pussification of America.

hyperspacemonkey: Uh oh. This is antithetical to the Eu's policies for distributing digital tech to solve social problems. Somebody is radically shifting policy faster than the government researchers can advise them. I wonder what the motive for this move is?

You know who else had their motives for authoritarian control measures questioned?

This is no big deal. Russia has had this rule for years, and that's a nice place.

they don't have a cell phone culture like the US has.

log_jammin: they don't have a cell phone culture like the US has.

Guess you've never been over there huh?

Everyone has cell phones, but nobody has any minutes... As an American with a surplus of minutes, the strangest thing to me was watching people giving each other missed calls. Rings once, then they hang up. So they could still keep in touch, sort of, but not burn any precious minutes.

What does a passport need with a cell phone?

40yoVirgin: What does a passport need with a cell phone?

Came here to say this, was reminded of my staggering unoriginality, am leaving satisfied.

Ridiculous. Terrorists are now the blanket bump-in-the-night that communists were in the '50s, justifying awful excesses by governments in the name of "security". England is just playing the role of Joe McCarthy, with the US DHS as the understudy.

grinch:

except that in the 50's, there was no actual danger of the united states being overrun by communists, whereas terrorism is an actual threat to the safety and well being of british citizens.

/agree that this legislation is unnecessary and ridiculous

In other news, we have always been at war with Eastasia.

proteus_b: grinch:

except that in the 50's, there was no actual danger of the united states being overrun by communists, whereas terrorism is an actual threat to the safety and well being of british citizens.

/agree that this legislation is unnecessary and ridiculous

So those nukes aimed at the the U.S. posed no threat whatsoever because they were never fired? There was an actual danger it just never materialized into direct war between the U.S. and the Soviets.

40yoVirgin
What does a passport need with a cell phone?



This guy frowns upon your doubt.

/linked hotter than the fires of a thousand suns

Am I the only one who doesn't understand why this has the IRONIC tag?

jejpu: Am I the only one who doesn't understand why this has the IRONIC tag?

nope I'm with you. Surprised our Irony police have not arrived. Must be switching shifts.

Here in India, you also have to provide your passport to get a mobile. The reason is the advent of bombs detonated by mobile phones. Nice if the government can trace a phone back to you. Since they've done that here, I'd say it was a successful rule. Annoying, but successful.
Minutes are cheap here. Before I went back to the States in June, I loaded Rs2000 (fifty bucks) onto the phone first. I still have about $20 left, and I use the phone, the GPS, the web browser, SMS, etc, every day. Cheap minutes FTW!

NarrMaster: 40yoVirgin
What does a passport need with a cell phone?



This guy frowns upon your doubt.

/linked hotter than the fires of a thousand suns

Sad that i got that immediately, and I only saw it once.

caesar1313:
i don't contend that the nukes weren't a danger to the u.s. and all of humanity. my claim is that the u.s. government was in no danger of "communist infiltration" which mccarthyism hoped to prevent.

In an effort to hold on to gain the title of #1 Nanny Police State, UK government will now require passports to buy cell phones

/FIFY

Police State, subby, Police State.

FTA's FIRST sentence -"...government plans to extend massively the powers of state surveillance."

Mister Peejay: NarrMaster: 40yoVirgin
What does a passport need with a cell phone?



This guy frowns upon your doubt.

/linked hotter than the fires of a thousand suns

Sad that i got that immediately, and I only saw it once.

This. Sadder still that I actually was looking to make a reference to it myself.

/She has vonderful muscles.

This is great news for muggers since the price of stolen phones is only going to go up.

proteus_b

except that in the 50's, there was no actual danger of the united states being overrun by communists, whereas terrorism is an actual threat to the safety and well being of british citizens.

Perhaps you should read up about the Cuban Missile Crisis. There are a few good books and an OK movie about it that I know of, but Wikipedia will give you enough information to be getting on with.

I know next to nothing about cell 'phones, the laws about them, and can barley operate one. I don't own one and have no real desire to. A few weeks ago, at the prodding of my sibs, I agreed to purchase a pre-paid 'phone to keep in touch because a family member was ill. I took a couple hundred dollars from an ATM, went into a 'phone store/check cashing place/cigarette retailer/western union office/hip hop music store to buy one and the guy insisted on seeing, nay: swiping my DL in some sort of reader like they have in some clubs. I'm very weird about showing ID to purchase mundane items such as Claratin-D, nicotine gum etc, so I didn't buy the bloody 'phone. So it seems that we already have some sort of ID thing for cell 'phones in the US.

HELLO??

The rule would be unenforceable. Too many people have old unregistered phones in the back of drawers, and every flea market around the country has a stack of second-hand phones for sale.

grinch:

read my second post.

maybe you should read a book about mccarthyism, which ended before 1962. it consisted of people being fired for their suspected disloyalty. and it had shiat-all to do with the missile crisis, which WAS a danger to the united states and its citizens. you people are batty.

proteus_b: caesar1313:
i don't contend that the nukes weren't a danger to the u.s. and all of humanity. my claim is that the u.s. government was in no danger of "communist infiltration" which mccarthyism hoped to prevent.

Fair enough.

i guess i didn't make myself clear previously. yes, communism is a shiatty dangerous system, and yes the soviets posed an actual threat. but i think the institutions of mccarthyism did nothing to further americans' safety during that time. MAD on the other hand, was essential.

You can skip the passport if you don't mind the UPC Code tattoo.

proteus_b:

maybe you should read a book about mccarthyism, which ended before 1962. it consisted of people being fired for their suspected disloyalty. and it had shiat-all to do with the missile crisis, which WAS a danger to the united states and its citizens. you people are batty.


You have just been added to a list being compiled by the new HUAC.

Courtesy of Congresswoman Bachmann (R MN)

/please smile for the camera
//turn to the right!

this is what i meant to say:

The gov't 'surveillance' of americans during mccarthyism did nothing to protect america from the communists because there never was a danger of "infiltration" the way mccarthy alleged. (that's not to say there weren't ANY soviet spies... just not the number, or sufficiently placed as he claimed) Defense against missile or military invasion is a separate issue, and i realize my comment wasn't clear in that regard.

In this case, the UK plan to monitor every cellular phone is an excessive breach of civil liberties, in my opinion. However, it is in response to the (real) threat of terrorist attack in the UK.

TheOnion: That's really scary. As bad as the USA is getting, its always depressing to see somewhere worse

It's no worse, just a bit ahead of the times. The U.K. is simply the ideal location for a trial run while the techno-police state is still in prototype. The days of "Nothing to Hide" were merely a temporary inefficiency in government, with the advent of technology we can now enter into the age of "Nothing is Hidden".

It's the dumbassness that gets me.

Does the Gubmint not figure out that all serious criminals will still be able to get a phone from any dodgy phone dealer with the passport details of Mrs Harmless of Rutland registered to it?

Or will you only be able to buy a phone from your local friendly branch of MI5?

proteus_b: In this case, the UK plan to monitor every cellular phone is an excessive breach of civil liberties, in my opinion. However, it is in response to the (real) threat of terrorist attack in the UK.

We've previously had thirty years of real terrorism in the UK from the IRA. It didn't take the imposition of a police state to deal with it.

proteus_b

read my second post.

maybe you should read a book about mccarthyism, which ended before 1962. it consisted of people being fired for their suspected disloyalty. and it had shiat-all to do with the missile crisis, which WAS a danger to the united states and its citizens. you people are batty.

You're taking the argument way beyond its original boundaries. I know it's fall, the leaves are changing colors and all that, but let's leave the straw men out in the cornfields to keep the crows away. You said there was no actual danger of the US being overrun by Communists, whereas terrorism is an actual threat. I say they're pretty much the same, threat-wise, outside of nations that support/harbor them -- isolated incidents of violence against civilians, spread of propaganda, not much else -- and that with both, the governments blew the threat way out of proportion to justify massive invasive measures against innocent citizens. You haven't shown anything to prove that wrong yet.

proteus_b

this is what i meant to say:

The gov't 'surveillance' of americans during mccarthyism did nothing to protect america from the communists because there never was a danger of "infiltration" the way mccarthy alleged. (that's not to say there weren't ANY soviet spies... just not the number, or sufficiently placed as he claimed) Defense against missile or military invasion is a separate issue, and i realize my comment wasn't clear in that regard.

In this case, the UK plan to monitor every cellular phone is an excessive breach of civil liberties, in my opinion. However, it is in response to the (real) threat of terrorist attack in the UK.

Well, that makes more sense. Good clarification. I see we agree that this is getting way too out of hand. Vive la resistance.

TheOnion
That's really scary. As bad as the USA is getting, its always depressing to see somewhere worse

Since Germany has had that cell phone registration crap for ages, I'm getting a kick in the nuts out of this reply..

Hey, they even arrested someone as a terrorist conspirator for not taking his cell phone with him when he was meeting some suspect under surveillance.

No, it wasn't the only reason for his arrest - the other reasons were such goodies like "Google found he used a certain word in one of his research papers" and "he had easy access to a library to look up dem difficult words and stuff".

FTA: Phone buyers would have to present a passport or other official form of identification at the point of purchase.

I'm exactly in agreement with the law... but ya gotta love sensationalist journalism/headlines

Why is this ironic? do they require a cellphone to get a passport? or maybe they revoke your passport when you get a cellphone? then _maybe_ it could be ironic.

I'm just waiting until I have to show ID and get government permission to have a face-to-face conversation with someone. Then I'll protest. I expect it will be along soon. Really, all that a phone call is is a distance-shifted conversation. It's not that big of a leap. How come when the government says 'protective' it always sounds like 'oppressive' to me? Also, I think the funniest thing to do with this would be to buy several dozen prepaid phones registered with your information, and then give them to random 13-year-old girls. Have fun monitoring THOSE calls, nanny state!

"Like, omigod! Can you believe she SAID that?!?"

/Security through absurdity.

Glad I live in a country that has strict privacy laws. Don't need a passport to get a cell phone, just need some form of ID.

Could you use a cell phone as proof of ID when you go in to get a passport?


/fair is fair

People should not fear their government, the government should fear its people

Jamieboy: swiping my DL in some sort of reader like they have in some clubs. I'm very weird about showing ID to purchase mundane items such as Claratin-D, nicotine gum etc.

bh_jodokast: You can skip the passport if you don't mind the UPC Code tattoo.

And it maketh all, the small, and the great, and the rich, and the poor, and the freemen, and the servants, that it may give to them a mark upon their right hand or upon their foreheads,

and that no one may be able to buy, or to sell, except he who is having the mark

This is really gonna cramp my system of keeping an entirely separate mobile line for my skanky side action. Oh, it's the UK? Whew. Dodged that bullet. For now.

Seriously, this is a scary story.