House Representative Jackie Speier ( D - San Francisco / San Mateo ) has put forward a bill that will require retail merchant to ask for designation from anyone corrupt a prepaid cellphone .
The bill , called Closing the Pre - Paid Mobile machine Security Gap Act of 2016 , is design to “ close one of the most substantial gaps in our power to track and prevent act of terror , drug trafficking , and mod - day thralldom , ” according to Speier .
The government note will postulate anyone purchase a “ pre - paid mobile gimmick or SIM wag ” to provide
1 . The full name of the purchaser.2 . The concluded home address of the purchaser.3 . The particular date of parturition of the purchaser .
retail merchant would postulate a Federal or State ID , a W–2 Wage and Tax Statement , a Form 1099 from the Social Security Administration or other government office , or any other papers so deemed eligible by the Attorney General . retailer would then be required to keep a record of this information , along with data about the phone .
you’re able to say the full school text of the billhere , andSpieler ’s statementon her web site .
The bill , introduced on March 23rd , has some undecomposed intention – some basic restrictions on the accessibility of pre - pay peregrine earpiece addresses some legitimate business organization from the police enforcement residential district .
But , it lead with the assumption that pre - pay mobile earphone are buy only by outlaw . Certainly , television shows such as The Wire and Breaking Bad have used their fair share of sleazy cellphone telephone set , which are used once before they ’re crunched under the heel of someone hell bent on committing crime .
But , these phones are cheaper , and that makes them attractive to large office of the universe : the senior , miserable , or people who just need do n’t require to shell out a couple of hundred vaulting horse for a high - goal cellphone speech sound with an expensive contract bridge . Journalists use such phones in the row of their workplace , to say nothing of people who have legitimate reasons for not wanting to be tracked , like abuse victim . This bill would give a paper lead that will undoubtably put some of these people at risk , either from mortal attempt to go after someone down , or from an opportunistic hack who can use the personal data for their own gain .
That ’s what makes this bill especially worrisome : it need retailers to continue quite a bit of personal information – somewhere – for at least 18 months , while not mandate any sort of privacy or security measure requirements to make certain that that information is safe . As write , its requirements are shadowy , and it ’s a privacy disaster waiting to happen .
Speier cites the fact that burner phones were used in terrorist attacks such as 9/11 , Paris and Times Square , but ignores the fact that these are an incredible minority of instances .
[ Jackie Speier , GovTrack ]
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