The Montgomery County, PA (suburb of Philadelphia) district attorney
> wants to restrict pre-paid cell phones.
> I find this idea very troubling, kind of Big Brother. Does anyone > agree with the DA?
> "To get a prepaid phone, all you have to do is plunk down your cash
> and walk out of the store -- no paperwork necessary. Castor says
> that's a problem for his detectives because they can't track down the
> owner of the phone."
> For full story please see:
>formatting link
> [public replies please]
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Actually, the way the DA would search
> for such a person would be the same way he located anyone else; he
> would subpoena the sales records. He would ask the seller of the
> phone to produce the record of whom the phone was sold to, the
> 'mystery caller' as it were. Ditto for any 'non-stationary' phone.
> Now, granted, the buyer may have plunked down cash and given a
> false ID for the purchase, but I am sure many buyers also used
> credit cards or a check. The DA also might try dialing the number
> under some pretense and seeing what he can find out that way. PAT]
Untraceable phones should be outlawed. These are what the bombers use for placing calls and for detonation.