Re:T-Mobile’s Binge On Optimization is Just Throttling, Appl...
by derefr on Monday January 04, 2016 @07:10PM
(#10839897)
I'd think anyone getting into the business of solely providing actually-the-Internet access could play just as dirty at the PR game. A marketing campaign made "we didn't use hydrocarbon-based pesticides (just enzymatic ones)" into "Organic™"; I don't see why they couldn't make "we don't touch your traffic" into "Secure™" or somesuch.
> They made sure the paperwork is nontrivial, and the procedure not easy to discover - they did exactly what one would do if one had to provide a service but absolutely didn't want to do it.
> you had to ... be personally present in Warsaw to pick up the SIM card. And pay the deposit. For the free SIM card.
I'm pretty sure that cell carriers the world over try to put some barrier between people and SIM cards (usually, it's that they cost $10) so that people won't be able to pump through burner SIMs like clockwork. Governments really knowing that whoever a cell carrier gives a SIM to (in exchange for metadata about them) is likely to be the same person who later plugs that SIM into a phone and uses it. Make SIMs "free"—and also easy to get—and individuals will be registering for 50 under different made-up aliases, or people who don't need "their" SIM will register and give it to a friend, etc.
> They made sure the paperwork is nontrivial, and the procedure not easy to discover - they did exactly what one would do if one had to provide a service but absolutely didn't want to do it.
I would basically describe this as the company doing a "work-to-rule strike." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work-to-rule)
> you had to ... be personally present in Warsaw to pick up the SIM card. And pay the deposit. For the free SIM card.
I'm pretty sure that cell carriers the world over try to put some barrier between people and SIM cards (usually, it's that they cost $10) so that people won't be able to pump through burner SIMs like clockwork. Governments really knowing that whoever a cell carrier gives a SIM to (in exchange for metadata about them) is likely to be the same person who later plugs that SIM into a phone and uses it. Make SIMs "free"—and also easy to get—and individuals will be registering for 50 under different made-up aliases, or people who don't need "their" SIM will register and give it to a friend, etc.