Bill by Schumer and Cornyn would require ID to buy prepaid cellphones

[Newsjock]

Source: Washington Post

A bipartisan pair of Senate leaders have introduced a first-of-its-kind bill aimed at stopping terrorist suspects such as the would-be Times Square bomber from hiding their identities by using prepaid cellphones to plot their attacks.

The legislation sponsored by Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) would require buyers to present identification when purchasing a prepaid cellphone and require phone companies to keep the information on file, as they do with users of landline phones and subscription-based cellphones. The proposal would require the carriers to retain the data for 18 months after the phone's deactivation.

... Civil liberties advocates have concerns about the proposal, saying there must be a role for anonymous communications in a free society. "They remain important for whistleblowers, battered spouses, reporters' sources," said James X. Dempsey, policy director for the Center for Democracy and Technology. And yet, he said, the space for such anonymous or pseudonymous communications has been narrowed. Pay phones, for example, have largely disappeared.

Privacy advocates worry that prepaid cellphone registration might be a step toward something even more worrisome in their view: identity registration to access the Internet. "I think everybody would admit in a free society there is a need for some ability to communicate without creating a full digital paper trail," Dempsey said. "We're just saying this proposal has to be considered in a broader context."

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/26/AR2010052603693.html

[joeybee12]

1. A couple of assholes...n/t

[peace frog]

10. I beg your pardon...

assholes perform a valuable service to humanity; these two assclowns, not so much.

[sandnsea]

2. To these people not have anything important to do

Like identifying a policy that keeps dangerous people locked up so we don't have to worry about any of the rest of this. Dangerous people, not pot users.

[arcane1]

3. I don't get it... the would-be Times Square bomber was caught.

What's the need? :shrug:

[RandomThoughts]

4. Security state concepts.

Shumer has been pushing for national ID, and now ID on phones.

He seems to like the concept of keeping everyone cataloged and identified.


I probably should be more civil, but if someone ask for ID instead....

Fly the Bird.




Although they might have good ideas also, all the attempts to move to security states is for the purpose of control, using terrorism as an excuse.

[HillbillyBob]

5. I feel the same sort of thing goes with the

silly ass fencing of 2,000some miles of border..
Fences keep only SOME people out, but they will also are meant to Keep US IN.

[WinkyDink]

6. Does Schumer think nations with ID cards are/were crime-free?

[FLAprogressive]

7. Chuckles Schumer proves yet again why he is a DINO and a gaping, shit filled asshole

[RC]

8. This will work about as well as

keeping alcohol away from minors.

We need to make our politicians take a reality test before they can take office, each and every time we are dumb enough to reelect them.

[TorchTheWitch]

9. remember when they required ID to use a payphone?

Oh wait... that never happened.

Criminals have been using payphones to hide their identity since the first payphone was installed yet no one ever thought to require ID to use them.

[Urban Prairie]

11. And would-be terrorists can't obtain forged/stolen IDs beforehand?

What a stupid idea...:dunce: :dunce:

[Canuckistanian]

12. Exactly.

A terrorist could find a "workaround" to this problem easily. It's only a matter of money.

I hear the 9/11 attacks cost a mere $400,000. The cost of fake ID would be petty cash in a sophisticated attack plan.