Congress wants to remove the possibility of anyone having an anonymous cell phone because some people do or might use it for illegal acts.
Based on this logic, most anything could be be justified!
Guns come to mind and of course the innocent glass bud vase which some people apparently use smoke crack.
I am now terrified to buy little glass vases for my posies for fear I will be pegged as a crack head on a fusion center SARS report.
June 4, 2010, By Karen Wilkinson, Staff Writer
Since prepaid cell phones don’t require a contract, credit check or identification to purchase them, they are one of the last remaining anonymous communication tools.
Used by the poor, reporters, their sources, whistleblowers, abused spouses and anyone needing an untraceable phone number, they’ve also become the device du jour of drug dealers and terrorists who want to avoid the eyes and ears of law enforcement. While such phones pose problems for police agencies — they can’t be wiretapped as can traditional cell phones and land lines — their purposes are far-reaching.
But this safety net or criminal-enabling device — depending on one’s perspective — may be eliminated if a newly introduced Senate bill passes. A bipartisan pair of Senate leaders recently introduced legislation that would require prepaid cell phone purchasers to present identification and cell phone companies to keep that information on file for 18 months after the phone’s deactivation.
“Although there are many legitimate users of prepaid cell phones, they have also become the communication device of choice for terrorists, drug lords and gang members interested in masking their identities,” stated a press release from Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y. “Since they can be purchased and activated without signing a contract or undergoing a credit check, prepaid cell phones provide virtual anonymity.”
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Wanna buy a prepaid SIM card? “Papers, please!”
S. 3427, a bill introduced in the Senate this week by Senators Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) and John Cornyn (R-TX), would require would require ID “verification” as a prerequite to buying a prepaid cell phone or SIM card.
The seller or reseller of the phone or SIM card would be required to collect your personal information (including name, address, date of birth, and for online sales your Social Security number) and all unique identifiers of the phone or SIM card including the including the EMEI or other serial number and the assigned phone number.
For in-person sales, you would have to show government-issued ID credentials in a form to be determined later by the Attorney General. For online or other non-face-to-face sales, you would also have to provide “Any other personal identifying information that the Attorney General finds, by regulation, to be necessary for purposes of this section.”
The bill would place no limits on the amount or intrusiveness of the information the Attorney General could demand, as long as it is spelled out in regulations. And there’s nothing in the bill to stop the AG from making the verification requirements so onerous as to amount to a de facto ban on online or mail order sales of prepaid SIM card or cell phones
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AxXiom for Liberty 
I’m with you on this one and when I saw the name Schumer…
It will achieve nothing because someone will just buy a SIM card outside the US and roam on a US network. That potentially will aggravate the issue because the government will not be able to obtain historic data and it will roam on various networks. The government in Switzerland implemented a law like this back in 2002 or 2003 and the end result was a mass of Estonian prepaid Sim cards arriving in Switzerland which offer free roaming Europewide. How long before someone sees an angle and wacks them out at $15 a pop on eBay! This proposal is not a good idea at all and will make matters vastly worse.
That makes sense.
Schumer is suggesting this is because potential terrorists used a prepaid phone. So let’s carry his logic further. Should everyone using a payphone be required to submit to a retina scan first. Or maybe the terrorists ate at a Mcdonalds: Why not ccheck DNA before serving uo those fries? I, am tired of the assault on civil liberties being traded away under the guise of “security”.
Orwell lives on!