The Arbeitskreis Vorratsdatenspeicherung (German Working Group on Data Retention) is fighting against the new law on telecommunications data retention in Germany which came into force on January 1st, 2008. The working group organizes specific activities and events that are supposed to make the data retention impossible. At the beginning of 2008, they organized a SIM card exchange. The purpose was to receive the SIM card of someone else (requirements: 10 Euros balance and no SIM lock) in order not to have your registration data match the registration data of the SIM card. The idea behind it is to give people the possibility of talking on the phone anonymously. One wonders, however, if that is really a good idea, and if time and effort and usefulness balance each other. Firstly, you have to inform all of your friends about the new number, and then you hope that your exchange partner had the same idea. If not, lots of undesired calls made by unknown people will reach your cell phone. In addition, you do not have the possibility of using the services of your provider anymore, since you are not able to identify yourself, and the provider has to stick to the data protection regulations.

There can also be more serious consequences if the new owner misuses the SIM card. When used in criminal offenses, the one who signed the contract with the provider, risks being accused of assistance, since the contract continues to be in effect, and thus one is liable for misuse. That is the reason why the exchange has been stopped for the time being. There is, nevertheless, the plan to organize another exchange when better security measures will have been taken. How this is supposed to work out, nobody knows…

On the 31st May, 2008, a nationwide day of action is going to take place. The motto is “Freedom Instead of Fear - For The Fundamental Rights”. Among other things, they are going to distribute pseudoregistered SIM cards in many cities (they ask for a small donation in return) in order to make possible anonymous conversations on the cell phone. One wonders why they put so much effort in this project, since the identification of the one talking on the phone is still possible through the device number of the cell phone, independent of the SIM card. In addition, just call data - that is time of the call, duration etc. - is stored for half a year, no conversation content! People divulge so much data and information thoughtlessly on so my occasions that my personal opinion is to keep the storage of data, and thus, have the possibility of using it for resolving crimes and catching terrorists. Before taking action against a law that can be of great benefit for society, people should first be educated about how to deal with their own data. They leave information that everybody can access, and let their data legally be transferred without knowing whereto. Remember for example StudiVZ and Payback card.