No phone for you!

Big old Texas FAIL! I’m gonna have to make a few calls while I still can

Alarmed by the use of hard-to-track prepaid cell phones by terror suspects, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer and Texas Sen. John Cornyn have introduced legislation requiring consumers to produce identification before buying such phones.

Its because of Terrorism! Oh No!

I went to England a few years ago and bought a cheap phone to use while I was there. They charged me 10 extra pounds because I used cash – because terrorists use cash! But at least they let me have the phone.

So far, no major phone company has objected to the legislation and some say they fully embrace it.

No kidding? The phone companies don’t object to making all of their customers give them marketable information in order to upsell them to use an ongoing payment plan instead of a one shot cash transaction? You don’t say!

It never ceases to amaze me that people point out that large corporations are always endorsing big laws that ultimately help fill their own pockets.

We are living in a time when unfortunately our public safety requires small gives by everyone," Verizon spokesman Jeffrey Nelson said.

Yeah “small gives” in the cash donations.

And from Cornyn’s press release

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. Since they can purchased and activated without signing a contract or undergoing a credit check, prepaid cell phones provide virtual anonymity.

I guess the next time I get on the freeway he will want my license photographed to make sure they can potentially catch and drug lords smuggling narcotics anonymously along the national highway system.