The US telecoms regulator wants ID checks before you can buy a phone. Privacy groups say the plan would end anonymous burner phones and tie every American’s identity to a number.
Buying a phone without handing over your identity could soon be impossible in the US. A Federal Communications Commission proposal would force providers to run identity checks before switching on a line, Fortune reported.
The FCC adopted the plan, FCC 26-27, on 30 April under its long-running robocall docket. It borrows the “know your customer” approach that banks use to screen account holders.
What the proposal asks for
Providers would have to collect a customer’s name, home address, government ID number and a second phone number before activating or renewing service. The rules would cover traditional carriers, mobile networks and internet-calling (VoIP) services.
The practical effect, critics say, is the end of the anonymous prepaid phone, better known as the burner. The FCC frames the rule as an anti-robocall measure. Its own filing says the data could also help investigate “fraud, espionage, or influence operations that undermine national security.”
Privacy groups push back
The response has been sharp. The proposal is “misguided and counterproductive,” said Sydney Saubestre of the Center for Democracy and Technology. It would “deny access to the most vulnerable, strip anonymity from those who need it most, and do little to stop the sophisticated scam operations it claims to target,” she told Fortune.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation and the ACLU made a similar case in a joint filing. They called it “a data collection regime that harms everyday, law abiding Americans.” They noted the FTC has found that most illegal robocalls come from overseas, and that fewer than half of US telecoms have fully rolled out an existing call-authentication fix.
Who gets shut out
The groups warn the rule would hit the people least able to comply. Roughly 15 million US adults lack a driving licence, and 2.6 million have no government photo ID at all. The draft also excludes PO boxes and mail-forwarding addresses, which unhoused people and domestic-violence survivors often rely on.
There is a safety angle, too. An anonymous line can be a lifeline for someone fleeing abuse, the filing argues. It also flags the danger of pooling all that data in one place. AT&T disclosed in 2024 that hackers took call and text records tied to 109 million accounts. Comcast’s Xfinity reported a breach hitting about 36 million.
Not everyone objects
Some back the plan. Banking groups filed in support through the Bank Policy Institute, citing fraud and scam losses of nearly $200bn in 2024. Comments closed on 25 June, with replies due by 27 July.
The fight rhymes with others worldwide, from age-verification laws to online-safety rules. Privacy advocates increasingly warn that ID checks built to fix one problem can quietly erode online anonymity, a worry that echoes across surveillance fights elsewhere.
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