[忍]

Largely this is for TMs, however there are other applicable scenarios. Since TMs can't store data they can't broadcast any SIN, fake or real. How does the rest of the world know it's you? GOD, online stores, teammates, and of course hosts ought to be able to identify personas somehow (hopefully othr  than JUST marks).

How do you relate personas to PCs and NPCs?

[fseperent]

I believe it's your commlink/RCC/cyberdeck that broadcasts your SIN.
I believe TMs can carry SIN information with them, provided sufficient marks on the device broadcasting the SIN.

[firebug]

In 4th edition, TMs would always automatically generate a random commcode when they connected to the Matrix.

In 5th edition, your SIN is broadcast through your commlink, which is registered with your SIN.  Your (fake) SIN is how you "legally" own everything, without one you can't.  Yes, this should mean a TM is incapable of having their Living Persona count as Owner to anything.  This is one of the reasons deckers usually have commlinks in addition to their cyberdecks, so they don't have to be using the deck to broadcast their SIN and what not.  A SIN is also usually needed to have any kind of bank account, which is why a lot of runners use credsticks--  Otherwise you'd need to empty your bank account every time you switched SINs.  In-game, those actions (how you'd realistically have to transfer ownership on everything you own) are all handwaved.  See all of the "wtf even is 'Owner'" threads on this forum as a result of Catalyst's sloppiness.

In the end, though?  It's a hopeless clusterfuck because 5th edition never thought past the words written on the page, and Technomancers were somehow added to everything as an afterthought.

[Hobbes]

Presumably a SIN is associated with your Persona Icon and so whatever device created your Persona is broadcasting your SIN.  But there isn't anything specifically stated.  And you can most certainly swap between SINs in some unspecified manner, theoretically with the same Commlink, RCC, Cyberdeck, whatever. 

tl;dr - whatever the GM says.   :  ) 

[Novocrane]

The end user part of SINs are straight up described as a file on your commlink, so swapping around your broadcast SIN could be as technical as logging out/in, or just changing the broadcast file.

Unfortunately, Firebug has it on ownership. Things get sloppy when you get specific.

[Reaver]

In regards to money, there are shadow banks that make a living providing 'banking services' to those of that live in the shadows....

This is a 'in game' mechanic to get around the fact that technically a bank account is linked to a SIN, and thus disappears when a SIN is discarded...

How they work, how they track ownership, and how they intetact with the world at large is never discussed in a mechanically sense. They just do.

[firebug]

Yeah, most of it's handwaved.  Which I don't mind.  Constantly handling money transfer, or if you're a Face with eight different SINs, "which of my SINs has my money in it...?" would just be tedious to have to keep track of. 

Just that "Owner" is probably connected to SINs and is horribly implemented...  But that isn't for this thread.

I agree with Novocrane; persona are probably per-device (some narrative supports this-- Data Trails page 8 for instance) and you broadcast the SIN you used to log on to the device.  Or if it was kept running (or just in sleep mode, etc) then you don't need to relog.

[Kincaid]

Ownership isn't connected to SINs, it's connected to your persona (more specifically, it's connected to the unique aspect of your persona that exists independent of the specific device you use to form it).  A SIN is (essentially) a number string that everyone is required to broadcast.  You can use any number of devices to do that actual broadcasting--people with a criminal SIN in my game find themselves with a RFID chip in their forearm.  A TM would probably have a cheap commlink to use as a broadcaster (but not to form his persona) while relying on his living persona for actual Matrix tasks.

[忍]

Thusly the TM would have to use the commlink to order Chinese delivery and not their living persona, right?

[Kincaid]

Thusly the TM would have to use the commlink to order Chinese delivery and not their living persona, right?

This largely comes down to how your GM runs SIN checks.  Personally, I wouldn't have a SIN check for Chinese delivery.  Simple math would dictate that if the lowly Chinese place around the corner checks your SIN, every fake SIN out there will get busted within a week.  All that being said, using the commlink for boring, legal activity is probably a good idea since most TMs try to keep a low profile. 

[Reaver]

Well, just by the way the system works, that restaurant would be checking a SIN with each order. (That doesn't mean the GM should be rolling a SIN check every time you buy a coffee however).
But the check is not very intensive, as all the restaurant cares about is if you have money... so it probably only runs a rating 1 SIN check.

I doubt that's enough to blow anything other then the weakest fake SINs. But what it does do is start to build up a profile for the SIN.... which is both good and bad universe wise.

Technically, as your profile grows, it establishes you more and more as a consumer (and thus  a real person). But it also could allow tracking of you by back tracing you purchase history. (Hence why most runners get rid of SINs on a regular basis).

[Kincaid]

If you want to get really granular about it, having DNI is sufficient.  You can interact with any device you own, so you can flash your SIN credential from its commlink housing.  In a world with TMs, simsense vertigo, and various other reasons to avoid forming a persona, this wouldn't be such an uncommon scenario that merchants would be unprepared.