Perfect is the enemy of good. The EU has it's flaws, but if you can't see the difference between the US privacy climate and the EU privacy climate then you need a reality check.
Yup, in the USA you can still have VPN server that is not storing logs, something that is simply illegal in European Union countries.
In the USA you can purchase prepaid SIM card in Wallmart with cash, put it in your phone and you have anonymous phone number, again, this is illegal in Europe in a typical stupid European way, as any criminal who needs an anonymous card would pull in to the retailer some drunk or homeless person and get that SIM anyway. But "normals" can forget about privacy, unless they want to play with something like silent.link.
> In the USA you can purchase prepaid SIM card in Wallmart with cash, put it in your phone and you have anonymous phone number, again, this is illegal in Europe in a typical stupid European way
This is illegal in some European countries but not all. I more than bought one phone and one SIM card with cash in the past.
There is always a degree of incoherence in people's beliefs and actions.
A good one along the lines of your comment, IMHO, is how most Europeans are very happy to promote ID cards and to be asked for theirs all the time while always complaining about "privacy" and against "surveillance".
For instance in France you must show your ID to buy even a prepaid SIM card, but then again the police can ask to see your ID with little justification. Or how they ask for ID when checking your ticket in the TGV high-speed train...
Are you insinuating that if you're in the US, you could refuse to show your ID to a police officer when they ask for it?
Go ahead and try that, tell us how it goes...
(No, there is no requirement to be carrying your ID card in any EU countries that I'm aware of. However, most jurisdictions require you to state your identity if questioned by police as a suspect. At least here in Sweden, if you're a suspect they are allowed to detain you "for identification" if you refuse.)
I am not expert in the US, and it has actually nothing to do with my comment, but I believe that police in the US might ask you to identify yourself in some circumstances (which is quite different from having to show an ID).
What I mentioned regarding France is that you must show an ID (passport, ID card or driving license) or face being detained at the police station when asked by police. You do not need to be a suspect of anything to be required to show an ID.
I was certainly not going for an agressive tone. I'm trying to say that police all over the world will want to know whom they are talking to, especially if you're a suspect. I don't think it's a world of difference between the US and an "average EU country" there.
In all of Eu countries I visited, only FI and DE asked for id when buying a prepaid sim card. And prepaid sim card days are almost over, as there is Airalo etc.
Strange as I have never heard that you would have to show your ID when buying a prepaid sim card in Finland. And I have also bought them several times and I think that I have sometimes bought them with cash.
In the USA you can purchase prepaid SIM card in Wallmart with cash, put it in your phone and you have anonymous phone number, again, this is illegal in Europe in a typical stupid European way, as any criminal who needs an anonymous card would pull in to the retailer some drunk or homeless person and get that SIM anyway. But "normals" can forget about privacy, unless they want to play with something like silent.link.