[guardian-dev] using SIM cards as a way to shuttle data between phones

[Nathan of Guardian]

On 09/16/2013 11:14 AM, Hans of Guardian wrote:
> I just heard about this interesting, simple idea for moving data between phones that works in the face of adversity: use SIM cards' storage area like an SD card.  With code written in Java, this would provide a means for moving data around between just about every phone out there in the world (except most CDMA of course, CDMA mostly doesn't use SIM cards).
> 
> This article is a bit confused, but I think the article says this is one of the things they are doing with Open SIM Kit:
> http://www.itwebafrica.com/mobile/442-uganda/231444-specially-designed-sim-cards-help-protect-free-speech
> 
> https://github.com/Abayima/OpenSIMKit
> 
> The code is in C#, oddly enough.  It looks like they are just getting started.  They are one of the Knight News Challenge winners, so they have funds to work on it.
> 
> Anyone played with this idea?

The Mobile Medic project (formerly Frontline:SMS Medic) has done some
work in this area: http://medicmobile.org/tools/muvuku-app/

The breakthrough they had was using a parallel sim card for the apps,
that slides in next to your standard sim card.

"Mobile network operators install SIM apps on almost all SIM cards, but
they typically do not give third parties access to install custom SIM
apps. For this reason, Medic Mobile uses a “parallel SIM.” A parallel
SIM is a paper-thin chip that slides in next to the ordinary SIM. This
means that you still use an ordinary SIM card to connect to the mobile
network (any mobile network) and manage airtime balance, and you use the
parallel SIM for data collection apps."