Keeping track of phones

Keeping track of phones

Columbus Dispatch: Fans of 24 and other TV shows and movies centered around such topics as crime, terrorism and international intrigue know that fiction mirrors fact in the many ways evildoers can use prepaid cell phones. These devices are difficult to track, so they are perfect for arranging shady deals, and they can be rigged to serve as trigger mechanisms for homemade bombs.

Investigators have determined that the 9/11 terrorists used prepaid cell phones to coordinate their attacks on this country. And in a more recent case, 34 people, including gang members and mobsters, were indicted last month in a scheme that included the smuggling of prepaid cell phones right along with drugs into a state prison in New Jersey.

No wonder, then, that law-enforcement officials are lining up to support proposed federal legislation that would require purchasers of prepaid cell phones to present valid ID cards and the phone companies to keep records of this identifying information.

No one with legitimate uses for these phones will find themselves inconvenienced by the provisions in the bill introduced in May by Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. These senators, representing opposite ends of the political spectrum, reflect the bipartisan support the bill has drawn.

While crooks might find technological and other means around the new law, why aid and abet them with a system that guarantees anonymity?