Bill Would Require ID For Prepaid Phones
Citing the recent attempt to detonate a car bomb in New York City's Times Square, Sens. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, announced legislation Wednesday aimed at identifying the buyers and users of prepaid cell phones.
Their legislation would require buyers of prepaid cell phones to present identification and require phone companies to keep that information on file, similar to what they have to do with users of landline phones and subscription-based cell phones, according to Schumer and Cornyn.
"This proposal is overdue because for years, terrorists, drug kingpins and gang members have stayed one step ahead of the law by using prepaid phones that are hard to trace," Schumer said. "We caught a break in catching the Times Square terrorist, but usually a prepaid cell phone is a dead end for law enforcement. There's no reason why it should still be this easy for terror plotters to cover their tracks."
According to federal authorities, the suspect in the Times Square bombing attempt, Faisal Shahzad, used a prepaid cell phone to arrange to buy the Nissan Pathfinder that he tried to detonate. He also used the phone to make calls to Pakistan before the attempted attack, Schumer and Cornyn said.
They said federal authorities caught a break when they discovered that the cell phone number Shahzad used matched one that he provided to U.S. Customs officials when he re-entered the United States months earlier.
"In the U.S., laws requiring registration of prepaid cell phone users have been proposed in states including Texas, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Georgia and South Carolina," Schumer and Cornyn said. But in light of the increased reliance of terrorists on the devices, the senators said Wednesday it was time for a federal response.
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