FCC wants to kill burner phones by forcing telecoms to get all customers' IDs
Points and comments are a snapshot, not live.
FCC proposes requiring telecoms to collect government ID and physical address for all phone customers, effectively eliminating anonymous burner phones.
The FCC is proposing a rule that would force telecommunications companies to collect government-issued identification numbers and physical addresses from all new and renewing customers. The stated goal is combating phone scammers, with additional data collection on business and foreign customers including intended use case and IP address. Privacy advocates including the ACLU warn the measure mirrors practices in authoritarian countries and would harm domestic abuse survivors, journalists, low-income people, and anyone seeking privacy. The change would fundamentally alter how Americans obtain phone plans and create new cybersecurity risks around the collected data.
What commenters are saying
Commenters noted the US is an outlier in not currently requiring ID for SIM cards, contrasting it with Australia, EU countries, and others that already mandate registration. Several said the requirement can be trivially circumvented: one commenter noted that fake IDs are available online, another that prepaid plans in the US currently require only cash and no identification at carriers like T-Mobile or through services like Tracphone and Mint Mobile. A few pointed out that eSIMs and foreign roaming services could bypass such rules if implemented. One thread discussed whether enforcement would even work, with users sharing that even in countries with ID requirements, some retailers ignore them or fraudulently fill forms.
No strong defense of the proposal appeared in the high-ranked comments.