Not-so-Great Britian slids further into the Abyss

[Termite]

From The Sunday Times
October 19, 2008
Passports will be needed to buy mobile phones

Everyone who buys a mobile telephone will be forced to register their identity on a national database under government plans to extend massively the powers of state surveillance.

Phone buyers would have to present a passport or other official form of identification at the point of purchase. Privacy campaigners fear it marks the latest government move to create a surveillance society.

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. Whitehall officials have raised the idea of a register containing the names and addresses of everyone who buys a phone in recent talks with Vodafone and other telephone companies, insiders say....

Linky

[Frankingun]

HighSpeed, the U.S. is calling! You are yearning to breathe free!

[Dub_James]

HighSpeed, the U.S. is calling! You are yearning to breathe free!

Agreed.

Christ man, get yer arse over here!

[Jered]

HighSpeed, the U.S. is calling! You are yearning to breathe free!

Agreed.

Christ man, get yer arse over here!

What can we do to help?

[mekender]

meh, that law isnt far from what the US has... to get a phone plan, you have to give your social security #... to get a prepaid phone you dont but those arent all that useful (i have one) but you are limited to two per purchase... i dont think you have to show id yet, but that probably isnt far away...

[Highspeed]

The thing is Mekender, this is part of a wider strategy involving other surveillance measures.
Vehicle tracking, phone and email interception, 'regulation' of the internet.
Europe is heading for a new era of totalitarian socialism.

Looks like we are out of the UK soon, we have a buyer for our house and are now waiting for all the legal formalities to be completed ( which can take a few months )

First stop is Spain where we can live off the radar in a remote area, while I try to find a legal way into the US.

[308Mike]

Mekender, over here it's the company requesting your SSN, NOT the government, and they're doing so because they're extending you credit for the plan agreement you're signing.

[mekender]

Mekender, over here it's the company requesting your SSN, NOT the government, and they're doing so because they're extending you credit for the plan agreement you're signing.

and with the recent bank bailouts, is there a difference between the company granting credit and the government?

[Scott Free]

Well, this doesn't have anything to do with mobile phones but it does have something to do with NSGB falling further into the Abyss (or maybe its just one of those things that make you go, "Hmmm..."):

What do you have to do to get a life sentence in Britain?

[308Mike]

and with the recent bank bailouts, is there a difference between the company granting credit and the government?

Yes, because there's no guarantee the government is going to bail anyone else out (like phone companies) who gets in financial trouble.