Pre-paid burners "aid terrorists" so "must be banned"

By Richi Jennings. May 27, 2010.

Privacy advocates are no doubt sharpening their arrows this morning. News is breaking of a Senate proposal to ban anonymous, pre-paid cellphones -- so-called 'burners'. Naturally, the motivation is to stop the evils of terrorism, in the wake of the Times Square bomb plot. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers weigh up the pros and cons.

Your humble blogwatcher selected these bloggy morsels for your enjoyment. Not to mention Hurley spoils LOST finale...
 
 
Michael McAuliff is a Potomac-mouth:

Anyone who watched “The Wire” knows untraceable ... prepaid cell phones ... have long been cherished by drug gangs and other criminal types, but ... Sen. Chuck Schumer ... says their use in the botched Times Square bombing shows they need to be tracked as a matter of national security.
...
Faisal Shahzad ... allegedly set up his purchase of the bomb car using a prepaid cell phone, and made a number of calls to Pakistan. ... The feds were only able to figure that out and track Shahzad because he gave the number to U.S. Customs ... months earlier. ... Schumer also points out that the 9/11 hijackers used such phones.

Eric M. Zeman adds:

A new bill ... takes aim at the anonymity of pre-paid cell phones. ... Would require buyers of pre-paid cell phones to show proof of identity ... and the service provider would be required to retain that information so phone users can be identified more easily.
...
Senator Chuck Schumer said, "This proposal is overdue because for years terrorists, drug kingpins and gang members have stayed one step ahead of the law by [being] hard to trace." ... Senator John Cornyn added, "While most Americans use pre-paid mobile devices lawfully, the anonymous nature of these devices gives too much cover ... for deviant, dangerous ... individuals."

Eric Zeman watches TV:

It's common knowledge that criminals like to use pre-paid cell phones. In fact, it has become a common plot device on television shows such as "Law & Order." Why? Because pre-paid phones ... don't require credit checks. ... Any schmoe can walk off the street, slap down $20, and walk out with an untraceable cell phone. Sounds like a good deal, right?
...
The bill is still just a bill. It has to pass a number of hurdles with congress. ... Several countries, including Australia, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Norway, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland and Thailand, already require pre-paid users to register their IDs.

Devlin Barrett is on-message:

Even white-collar criminals have made use of pre-paid cellphones. ... Authorities say pre-paid cell phones were used by hedge fund managers and Wall Street executives ... [for the] Galleon Group ... insider trading case.
...
Prosecutors say traders in that case communicated with other executives through prepaid phones ... [to skip] wiretaps.

But Marin Perez is worried:

Seems reasonable – no one wants to help dirty terrorists, right? Well, the only problem is ... unintended consequences. ... Mexico tried to get all of its mobile phone users to register. ... The move was met with resistance and it may have even backfired as tons of private data leaked out that may wind up helping the bad guys.
...
A criminal will be able to forge an ID if they really want to, which could neuter the effectiveness of the proposed legislation. ... The proposed law could hinder the prepaid market because it would create additional costs for the service providers.

And Finally...
Hurley spoils the ending to LOST
[hat tip: Johnny Dillinger]
 
 
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Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and security. A cross-functional IT geek since 1985, you can follow him as @richi on Twitter, pretend to be richij's friend on Facebook, or just use good old email: itbw@richij.com.

You can also read Richi's full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.