Enters Proximus to get a pre-paid data SIM.
- Do you have Belgian ID?
- Me: huh? Oh, no, I have EU ID.
- Oh, then it will take four days to activateā¦ we work with the government to check your documents, etc.
Tell me again about this Single Market of yoursā¦ I swear with the military on the streets, police sniffer dogs everywhere and shit like this, Belgium is one far-right government away from fascism with great chocolate and shopping.
Walked into Orange and got one without any hassle.
š¤·āāļø
@aral
I recall getting one in Lisbon without needing an ID.
@monsieuricon
I think it's down to national law. You didn't need to show ID for prepaid SIMs in Germany a few years ago (not sure about nowadays), and in Britain, I got one based only on my mail address and a valid e-mail address -- not sure what checks they ran in the background, though. UK does a lot of creepy stuff to compensate for not having national ID
@aral
@aral In addition to the data-privacy aspect this is a practical problem for us seafarers too, who often need a temporary SIM for a few weeks or months at a time and don't usually have an entry visa for the country we're in (so passport validation can be a problem.) Only really seen it in the Middle East before, though; pretty worried to hear its reached Europe now..
@aral isn't that the law now, no SIM card without ID? I think I read something along those lines a couple of years ago. Can't remember if I needed ID in England (2012), definitely needed ID in Germany (2013) and Sweden (2014)
@aral This was rushed into law following the 2016 terror attacks in Brussels, with complete disregard for any opposing voices obviously.
@aral You'll love to hear about the law the previous government (headed by the 'center'-right party, of course) passed to add biometric data (fingerprints) to all ID cards. It's completely ridiculous and probably unconstitutional.
* By āno hassleā I mean no warnings about it taking X days to activate but they did scan my passport so itās linked to me. Looks like you canāt anonymously access the Interwebs anymore. I remember many years ago having a similar experience in Turkey where prepaid cards would stop working after X days so it seems weāve caught up with and surpassed ErdoÄan.