Privacy / P2
Anonymous phone and internet
The person wants a prepaid SIM card and an internet connection without giving their identity.
What we score
Can they?
Default assumptions: Unless a vignette says otherwise, the person is a 30-year-old citizen of sound mind with no criminal record, acting alone, on their own behalf and not for profit, in an ordinary residential area. Where subnational units (states, provinces, cantons, Länder) make their own law, each unit is scored and the result is weighted by population. 'The state' includes police, prosecutors, courts, regulators, tax authorities and anyone acting on their orders, including platforms obeying takedown orders.
Score anchors
Both the law score and the practice score use these anchors. Half points are used when a country sits between two of them.
| Score | What it means for this vignette |
|---|---|
| 10 | Yes, no registration. |
| 8 | Phone anonymous; fixed internet contract needs a name, as any contract. |
| 6 | SIM registration with ID required. |
| 4 | SIM registration plus real-name rules for online services. |
| 3 | Anonymous use is fined. |
| 2 | Anonymous use is a crime. |
Evidence used: SIM-registration law; real-name internet rules; data-retention obligations.
How each country scores
| Country | Law | Practice | Process | Score | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 9 | 8.5 | 0 | 8.7 | No federal or state law requires prepaid SIM registration or ID at purchase; a 2010 Senate bill to require it did not pass. Prepaid phones and SIMs can be bought for cash, and some carriers ask for a name or ZIP code at activation, but nothing verifies it. Fixed broadband needs a named contract as any service does, and public Wi-Fi needs no identity. There are no real-name rules for online services. |
| Czechia | 8 | 8 | 0 | 8.0 | Czechia does not require registration of prepaid SIM cards; it is the last central European country where they can be bought anonymously. Proposals to end anonymity (2005, 2020, December 2025) have not become law. Fixed internet requires a contract in one's name. |
| Netherlands | 8 | 8 | 0 | 8.0 | NL has no SIM-registration law: prepaid SIM cards are sold for cash in shops without ID. The justice minister rejected a registration duty in 2019 as easily evaded. Fixed broadband requires a contract in one's own name, like any subscription. |
| United Kingdom | 8 | 8 | 0 | 8.0 | The UK has no prepaid SIM registration law: the government rejected compulsory registration in 2007, and later police calls to revive it (2020) were not acted on, so pay-as-you-go SIMs are sold without ID. Fixed broadband contracts require a name and credit check, as any contract does. There are no real-name rules for online services, though Online Safety Act age checks apply to pornography sites. |
| Denmark | 8 | 8 | 0 | 8.0 | I found no Danish statute requiring ID to buy or activate a prepaid SIM. Retsplejeloven § 786 h only authorises rules on directory and identification data, and I could not open an official source confirming whether such rules have been issued, so this score rests on the statute alone. Providers must log every subscriber's internet access for 1 year (§ 786 f), and fixed broadband requires a contract in the customer's name. |
| New Zealand | 8 | 8 | 0 | 8.0 | New Zealand has no SIM-registration law for individual customers, so prepaid SIMs can be bought and activated without ID. Fixed broadband contracts require a name and payment details like any contract. There are no real-name rules for online services. The source is a commercial telecom blog, used because no government statement exists for a law that does not exist. |
| Ireland | 8 | 8 | 0 | 8.0 | Ireland has no prepaid SIM registration law, and pay-as-you-go SIMs are sold without ID. Fixed broadband contracts need a name and payment details like any contract. There are no real-name rules for online services, although operators must retain subscriber and traffic data under the Communications (Retention of Data) Acts. The source for the absence of SIM registration is a secondary privacy guide, since an absence of law has no primary source. |
| Mexico | 6 | 6 | 0 | 6.0 | Since 9 January 2026, every mobile line must be linked to the holder's CURP or official ID under telecom regulator (CRT) rules issued under the 2025 telecom law. Unregistered prepaid lines are suspended on a staggered schedule from August to December 2026. Only data-only SIMs that cannot call or text are exempt. Mexico has no real-name rule for online services. |
| Germany | 6 | 6 | 0 | 6.0 | Prepaid SIM cards must be registered with name and date of birth, verified against an ID document before activation (§ 172 TKG). Fixed internet needs a contract in the person's name. Germany has no real-name requirement for online services. |
| Singapore | 6 | 6 | 0 | 6.0 | Every SIM card in Singapore must be registered to the subscriber's identity. IMDA limits each person to 3 prepaid SIMs (since 2014) and, from 28 Feb 2026, 10 postpaid SIMs across all telcos, checkable through Singpass. There is no general real-name rule for online services. |
| Switzerland | 5.5 | 5.5 | 0 | 5.5 | Mobile subscribers must be identified with an ID document when a SIM is issued or activated, including prepaid (Surveillance Act Art. 21; VÜPF Arts. 19-20). Since 2024, professionally operated public Wi-Fi hotspots must also identify all end users (VÜPF Art. 19(2)), which takes away anonymous public internet access. There is no general real-name rule for online services, and the 2025 proposal to extend identification duties to apps is not in force. |