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Comment by tlyleung | Hacker News Reader

To have an account with Optus, you need to provide a Primary ID such as an Australian Drivers Licence or current passport. (See: https://www.optus.com.au/for-you/support/answer?id=9438) They probably kept it on file, instead of verifying and discarding, potentially due to regulatory requirement.

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My understanding is that it's a regulatory requirement, the Govt wants to know who specifically owns what SIM. If I remember right, this was introduced post 9/11. I may be spectacularly wrong on both fronts, though!

You are correct, but I’m pretty sure for prepaid services under a low threshold (4 SIMs?) a bank card is sufficient.

That doesn’t stop these companies just going for the big ID though, and for postpaid they are offering credit and will definitely require 100 points of ID.

That's news to me. I've purchased two prepaid sims in Australia within the past ten years and each time a passport or driver's licence was required.

Actual law is here: https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2017L00399/Html/Text... and you can see what Amaysim requires here: https://www.amaysim.com.au/help/mobile/getting-started/accep...

The ACMA determination is pretty hard to parse unfortunately.

From memory, you could get a prepaid SIM without an ID well after 9/11. I think it was introduced to get rid of burner phone SIMs back when SMS was still a thing.

wait y'all can't get burner phones in aus? how do y'all make private phone calls or send private text messages if you can't dispose of the number after?

Most countries in the world require some form of ID to activate a new SIM card. The justification is usually that "burner phones are for terrorists and criminals". In US, for example, Faisal Shahzad is often cited as an example.

https://www.comparitech.com/blog/vpn-privacy/sim-card-regist...

US Senate tried to pass a similar law back in 2010. Bill sponsors were Chuck Schumer and John Cornyn, in case you ever see those names on your ballot.

damn, i'm really sorry for y'all, that's authoritarian ash ngl. i hope y'all's laws get fixed and thanks for calling out schumer and cornyn.

Imagine if people could talk to each other without the government knowing. Complete anarchy!

Yes, they claimed they needed it to stop terrorism.

Then they detained an innocent person for the longest time without charge in recent history, including solitary for 23 hours per day, and not letting him access legal advice or contact his family, because terrorism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhamed_Haneef

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