Police push ID links to prepaid phones

Victims in Chicago Police Detective Timothy J. Murphy’s homicide cases were leaving behind important clues: cell phones showing incoming calls just before the times of death.

But the calls increasingly led to numbers dialed by prepaid cell-phone users and that’s a dead end, Detective Murphy explained in a letter sent nearly two years ago to state and federal lawmakers, because phone companies usually don’t maintain the identities of the phone buyers.

“In the last several months, many of my homicide investigations have been hindered due to the major obstruction that ‘prepay’ or ‘pay as you go’ cellular telephones that litter the market cause,” he wrote. “I am seeking your assistance in introducing legislation to regulate this loophole.”

He’s still waiting.

“Nobody did anything,” the eight-year veteran of the city’s homicide squad said in a phone interview last week.

Although no bills are pending in Congress, legislation requiring photo identification for prepaid-phone purchases is surfacing in statehouses nationwide. The National Conference of State Legislatures is following bills in Michigan and Georgia. Lawmakers in New Jersey, Texas and Pennsylvania also have considered legislation.

Neil Cohen, a Democratic state assemblyman sponsoring a pending bill in New Jersey, said he was required to show photo ID when he recently purchased a cell phone with a normal billing account. “If I’ve got to produce a photo ID, I don’t think there should be a distinction for a prepaid phone,” he said.

But privacy advocates and telecommunications and retail groups question whether the bills will do anything to catch criminals.

“We’ve had some obvious concerns,” said Joe Farren, spokesman for Washington-based CTIA, the Wireless Association.

“You’ve got 255 million wireless phones in circulation right now. It’s going to be terribly difficult to prove whether someone is providing false identification,” Mr. Farren said, adding that wireless-phone carriers “work very closely” with law-enforcement authorities.

“The overwhelming number of wiretaps are on wireless lines,” he said.

Verizon Wireless spokesman John Johnson said the company asks for photo identification when a customer wants to buy a prepaid cell phone, but Verizon doesn’t retain those records.

“It’s only to verify that the person is who he or she says,” Mr. Johnson said.

Katherine Albrecht, an outspoken privacy advocate, said such legislation raises fears about government intrusion. She also said that some people, such as victims of stalking, may need to use anonymous phone lines.

“There are some serious reasons you would want that ability,” she said.

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