In the UK (okay, not EU anymore but it was until recently) anonymous SIM cards are incredibly easy to come by. You can buy them in most corner shops, supermarkets, and petrol stations. Both big and small operators.
If you buy a SIM card from an operator's store they might ask for ID but they didn't the last time I did this (a couple of years ago).
When I last flew into the UK there were even prepaid SIM card vending machines, provided by the network operator, in the entrance/exit to the airport.
COntrast that with Switzerland, where I had to provide my passport to buy a SIM card.
UK isn't in the EU anymore, but here you've always been able to get anonymous pay-as-you-go SIM cards at the shop and top them up with cash. We don't even have a national ID card. If you sign up for a contract, which is cheaper, you do need to provide some proof of identity though.
I can't imagine the UK doesn't have laws to prevent anonymous SIM card purchases, because of terrorism fears.
Some duckduckgo-ing suggests it's possible, e.g. someone wrote just go to Tesco to get one and there are no ID checks (but this was written 6 years ago). In any case, just like teenagers buying booze, it's probably not that hard to pay someone off the street to buy one for you.
In the Netherlands you can buy sim cards without any ID. If you pay them cash, there is no link to you, except maybe a security camera in the shop. You don't need to activate them - they work right away.
US is not the only country in the west where you can buy a SIM anonymously, though certainly one could say it would probably be the last country in the west such law would be implemented.
The EU really tried(and succeeded, for the most part) to pressure european countries to implement mandatory ID when buying a SIM card.Certain countries have withstood this push from Bruxelles, not surprising more than 50% of those on the eastern side of the continent [0].(To give a bit of a context: communists 'used' to do this back in the day and it was very known --monitor communications-- that's why many people don't want it, even under the umbrella of "protection from terrorists")
Can you actually get a European sim without showing ID? That would kind of surprise me, there has been a big push to get rid of anonymous phone numbers.
Is it hard to buy a SIM card in much of the world? I can walk into one or about ten shops within 5km of here and buy one instantly. I think the price is ‘free’ but you pay something like EUR 10 to have credit on it. If you want to be anonymous, you can wear a hood and a mask and pay with cash.
Depending on where you are in the world, you need to be able to go online to activate the SIM cards you buy at the supermarket/corner-store.
Here in Denmark you can't buy an anonymous SIM card anymore, at least I haven't found any in years. They all require you to register on their website with name, address, CPR (Danish SSN).
Are anonymous SIM cards illegal in Germany? There are definitely some EU countries where you can buy a prepaid SIM card in a newspaper stand without presenting any ID and it is 100% legal.
If you buy a SIM card from an operator's store they might ask for ID but they didn't the last time I did this (a couple of years ago).
When I last flew into the UK there were even prepaid SIM card vending machines, provided by the network operator, in the entrance/exit to the airport.
COntrast that with Switzerland, where I had to provide my passport to buy a SIM card.
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