Re: <nettime> The Cryptopticon

[Adam Burns <adamb@free2air.net>]

Absolutely agree with the thread sentiments of driving people
underground and into disadvantage.

However, situations like this demand effort to circumvent and encourage
the exploration of methods allowing the routing around of such censor
blocks.

For instance in Germany, VoIP gateways (eg sipgate) offer leasing of
local German voice numbers, Freifunk offers open wifi connectivity, and
with the right app, smart phones work for calls and SMS with no SIM card
over WiFi. The setup is by no means perfect in terms of connectivity,
but functional at least without visa/proof of ID (albeit CC or online
payment is still required).

Disadvantages and effort aside, in terms of surveillance and control,
there are distinct advantages to not embedding a SIM card into your
device and your life, so perhaps in some ways such constructions and
their work-arounds show us all a small but more liberated way forward.

Such regimes are pinpoint in their regulatory requirements and create
their own shadows in terms of defining the characteristics of bias,
focusing on suspicion of the adaptable rather than the flaws of
assumptions and intent behind their own constructed regulatory system
(unless their intent is indeed to create the shadows in the first place).

A.


On 07/01/2019 17:03, Emery Hemingway wrote:
> It swings both ways, stricter registration requirements eventually
> pushes more people underground. For example, immigrants in Germany
> with temporary visas (fiktionsbescheinigungen) cannot buy SIM cards,
> but they can hardly complete the administrative process without one.
>
> E.
>
> On Monday, January 7, 2019 2:00:18 PM CET, Felix Stalder wrote:
>> In 2014, a protestor at an anti-fascist rally in Vienna was sentenced to
>> 12 months of jail, for alleged participation in violent action.
>>
>> Among the evidence that was held against him was using an non-registered
>> prepaid card. Even though that was entirely legal at the time, it was
>> held against him as evidence that we was actively engaged in obfuscating
>> his tracks, which meant, obviously, that he had planned to commit
>> crimes. To add to the absurdity of this case, this was before the EU
>> eliminated roaming charges, so lots of people bought disposable sim
>> cards when traveling aboard (as he did, coming from Germany) for the
>> simple reasons of saving telco charges.
>>
>> Felix
>>
>> [1]
>> https://derstandard.at/2000003552905/Da-macht-es-sich-die-Justiz-recht-einfach
>>
>
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