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Comment by rixed

13 days ago

In Germany, before I can send an anonymous message on HN, I have to send a picture of my passport to some government agency and have a video call with them, so that my phone is allowed to attach to the internet.

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rixed

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danieldk  13 days ago

Could you elaborate? I lived in Germany for a while and I never had to send a picture to a government agency and have a video call with them to access the internet. Phone, laptop, and desktop.

Never heard anything like that from many people I know in Germany.

I feel like there is a huge chunk of context missing here.

  • rixed  12 days ago

    Sure. The difference is probably that you had a contract assigned to your home address, so they had your identity and your banking coordinates already, no need to ask.

    I'm referring to sim cards bought in a supermarket. Prepaid, no contract. The activation process, regardless of the brand (I've tried many!) involves those video calls.

    • wkat4242  12 days ago

      Oh that sucks deeply. In Spain they have something like that too. But in Holland you can still buy one in the supermarket without registering anything (though you'll have to top up by cash every single time if you really don't want to be traced).

      I think Ireland still doesn't require registration either.

nake89  13 days ago

No you don't. You can get a prepaid SIM card.

  • rixed  12 days ago

    Amusingly, one of the prepaid sim card that i got in an airport required as a first step that i install an app on my phone (with my previous sim since internet was needed) just so that the app could refuse to proceed because that sim was not German...

  • pndy  12 days ago

    Most of the European countries require registering prepaid SIM cards for about 10 years now.