unappellated eohippus doesn't want to ban prepaid cellular telephones

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2798698

Oh my.

Ms. Ed, the unappellated eohippus:

Horse with no Name  (1000+ posts)       Thu Jan-31-08 01:29 PM
Original message
 
Oh my aching ass. Texas Senator looking to ban prepaid cellphones

About these advertisementsWhat the ****? What about people who cannot afford Sprint, et al raping charges or do not qualify for a cellphone? I have a Sprint plan but I also keep a Virgin mobile phone handy with a few minutes on it.

This is outrageous.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestne...

A state senator and Dallas police officials are taking aim at prepaid cellphones in a strategy to fight criminal gangs that operate on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border.

“Criminal gangs have become a major threat to our quality of living,” state Sen. John Carona said during a news conference at Dallas police headquarters. “They reach from the street corners of Dallas to the four corners of the globe, literally.”

During Thursday’s news conference, the senator proposed making prepaid phones harder to get. He said that initiative would be the first of many to combat gangs.

“Prepaids are popular with criminals because they are cheap, accessible, untraceable, and discardable,” he said. “They don’t even have to bother blocking or disguising the phone number, which means if the crime involves a scam, your caller ID registers a regular number with a local area code, so your guard goes down, and you don’t even know what’s coming.”

“This legislation will lead the nation in taking prepaid cellphones out of the criminal equation,” he said.

Stephanie  (1000+ posts)       Thu Jan-31-08 01:31 PM
Response to Original message
 
1. criminals often use cars to get away, too 
 
we should ban them

Angela Shelley (807 posts)     Thu Jan-31-08 01:32 PM
Response to Reply #1
 
6. and some senators don´t use their brains to think. 

We should ban them.

Yep.  The first one that comes to mind is Vast Teddy, although there's others too.

Winterblues (115 posts)      Thu Jan-31-08 01:45 PM
Response to Reply #1
 
14. They wear clothes as well

No one should be allowed to have anything because criminals do too.

rocknation  (1000+ posts)       Thu Jan-31-08 02:30 PM
Response to Reply #1
 
23. YOU FORGOT GUNS!

And knives. And baseball bats. And ski masks. So what if banning them would unescessarily inconvenice the innocent the law-abiding? The priority is to keep them SAFE!

LisaM  (1000+ posts)      Thu Jan-31-08 01:31 PM
Response to Original message
 
3. I have a pay as you go plan. I wouldn't change it.
I never have a cell phone bill, and I don't want one. (I think it's slightly different from the phones that you just buy and discard though - I had to show ID, etc., and I can change it to a plan if I want).

And on it goes; it's a medium-sized bonfire there on Skins's island.

You know, cellular telephones are outside of my own life experiences, for obvious reasons, and I'm curious.

I have the sense "prepaid cellular service" is some sort of rip-off, like those telephone calling-cards that advertise "4 cents a minute".....and then count "minutes" as five seconds, and not sixty seconds.

The normal and usual and customary cost for a land-line telephone around here is $24 per month, and one can of course make unlimited local calls, yakking away 60 minutes an hour, 24 hours a day, 31 days a month, for that charge.

Does anyone know how "prepaid cellular services" stacks up, against that?

[Rebel]

There are many advantages to pre-paid cellular phones, the main one for most being that there is no credit check. As for some sort of criminal enterprise, I haven't a clue. Although I don't use them, being a customer of Sprint PCS for the past 8 years, I disagree with banning the pre-paid phones as well.

[Chris_]

There are many advantages to pre-paid cellular phones, the main one for most being that there is no credit check. As for some sort of criminal enterprise, I haven't a clue. Although I don't use them, being a customer of Sprint PCS for the past 8 years, I disagree with banning the pre-paid phones as well.

I travel for a living and left my cell at home.  That ham-strung me quite a bit.  So a 50 dollar prepaid cell phone was a Godsend.  I still have the phone. I don't know what I will do with it.  Now that I think of it maybe I'll donate it to that minutes for soldiers thing...

[DixieBelle]

A pre-paid phone is basically an untraceable throw away phone thus making it appealing to criminals. A while back, there was a big scare concerning "large purchases" of these phones. The FBI has investigated at least once (I think there were over $50k worth of phones bought) the concern being a terror cell using them for a coordinated attack.

I've personally witnessed the salespeople at Target and one other store deny a customer from buying more than six phones. The guy was pissed, but the store employee told him it was "policy" and that they did it to "allow everyone a chance to buy them instead of one person cleaning them out".  

Banning them? No. This is the price we pay in a free society. The Texas politician is obviously pandering....he's also proposed that you show a Govt issued ID to buy them and are only allowed three at a time. There are so many ways around that.....

[Lord Undies]

I'm sorry law enforcement has a problem with the phones, but that's just the way it is.  Why should the free people of the USA be denied phones they can afford just because a criminal element uses them too?  Find some other way to deal with the problem.  People have given up enough choices in the name of security. 

And yes, Frank, the phones are basically a ripoff in the sense that they cost more in the long run.

[Chris_]

I'm sorry law enforcement has a problem with the phones, but that's just the way it is.  Why should the free people of the USA be denied phones they can afford just because a criminal element uses them too?  Find some other way to deal with the problem.  People have given up enough choices in the name of security. 

And yes, Frank, the phones are basically a ripoff in the sense that they cost more in the long run.

Besides, "Law and Order" would have no way to hit a seemingly insurmountable dead-end without them.

[Chris_]

We had prepaid phones for our kids when they were teens. They didn't really use them enough to justify a monthly expenditure (Virgin Mobile only requires that you "top up" every 3 months). Now we all use Cingular as there's no charge for mobile to mobile minutes and I can text back and forth with my son and we send each other pictures.

Cindie

[Freeper]

If you dont yack on the phone a whole lot a prepaid phone can be a bargain. If you use it all the time it is a rip off.

[Lord Undies]

If you dont yack on the phone a whole lot a prepaid phone can be a bargain. If you use it all the time it is a rip off.

That depends.  Some of the companies charge against your minutes for occupying their "system" on a daily basis whether you talk that day or not.  And some of them have an arbitrary expiration date, which means you better talk a lot quickly or lose what you purchased. 

People need to read what they are agreeing to before they buy.

[Chris_]

If you dont yack on the phone a whole lot a prepaid phone can be a bargain. If you use it all the time it is a rip off.

That depends.  Some of the companies charge against your minutes for occupying their "system" on a daily basis whether you talk that day or not.  And some of them have an arbitrary expiration date, which means you better talk a lot quickly or lose what you purchased. 

People need to read what they are agreeing to before they buy.

Its that dang expiration date that keeps me from keeping one as a backup phone.  Most pre-purchased minutes expire in 30 or 60 days.