[TomMarius]

It is illegal to not track and save this data in the EU.

> If you are using a cellphone, your location is being tracked. Period. You can’t avoid it. Even TOR isn’t gonna help you.

It is still possible to buy an anonymous SIM in a few countries.

[Nextgrid]

Tracking it and disclosing it only upon a valid court order is one thing. Selling it to anyone who asks (or even leaking it for free) is another thing.

[geraltofrivia]

Even if the SIM's anonymous, as the article demonstrated, it would be easy to de-anonymize it.

[TomMarius]

There are ways to try to stay hidden, like having one stationary and VPN to it from the second one; using a burner second/third/fourth/...-hand phone for the second, etc.

[surround]

In order to connect to the VPN, you must connect to the cell towers, which reveals your location.

And no matter how many burner phones you use, as soon as you visit your home address, your identity is compromised.

[TomMarius]

> In order to connect to the VPN, you must connect to the cell towers, which reveals your location.

It reveals the location of an anonymous SIM with no readable traffic, connecting to an unknown (if you use Tor) and also stationary and anonymous device, which might be planted in any random school, library, workplace...

> And no matter how many burner phones you use, as soon as you visit your home address, your identity is compromised.

Of course - don't do that with the phone on :) that's the basics, isn't it?

[surround]

I don’t understand how connecting to the stationary device helps if you still have to connect to the cell towers.

[propelol]

I don't know if that is true. But the issue here is that the data is being sold to others for other use cases.

[eru]

You used to be able to be an anonymous SIM in the UK. (No clue whether that's still the case.)

The SIM would still be tracked.

Don't think whatever EU laws allowed the UK to keep some SIMS anonymous have changed since they left?

[TomMarius]

The country that still allows it is Czechia. So it's probably not an EU law that requires it.

[eru]

Thanks!

That figures. They are also pretty liberal on their citizens owning guns.

[TomMarius]

Indeed we are, and the gun ownership is not minor as well (every twelfth adult normally carries a weapon).

[jacobush]

Interesting twist on that - the EU has gun regulations, but Czechia made a law that every licensed gun owner in Czechia constitutes a part of the national defense. Sweden has a similar thing, where people in the reserve can have a fully automatic submachine gun. But it's limited to people with an explicit reserve status and the proper training, gun safe etc and further limitations, plus in practice it's not common anymore.

[jacobush]

Also Sweden

[surround]

As the article demonstrates, it’s easy to de-anonymize the data.