The bill was introduced by Jackie Speier (D-CA), and she called the prepaid phone loophole an egregious gap in the country’s legal framework. Speier said the loophole allows criminals and terrorists to prosper.
‘Closing the Pre-Paid Mobile Device Security Gap Act of 2016’ is the official name of the bill. As of now, the House Judiciary Committee has yet to approve it.
The information customers would have to provide include their name, date of birth and address. In order to verify the information, it would be done via credit card, social security number or driving license number.
Speier said the bill would help track criminals and terrorists because as of now prepaid phones can be purchase without record-keeping requirements or identification requirements.
According to RT, terrorists and other people who don’t want to be tracked often use prepaid phones, or burner phones. Sometimes they only use the phone onetime before throwing it away and moving onto another.
The introduction of the bill is the latest effort by politicians who want to crackdown on technology that government cannot easily access.
