I would imagine that the cell phone industry is going to fight this tooth and nail. Yes, burner phones CAN be used by drug dealers and terrorists, but there are also many legitimate uses for them.
If it happens, it does not mean that your personal information is up for grabs and available to eBay or PayPal. It just means that in order to get a phone or SIM, you might have to provide your personal information.
Also, Jackie Speier is a Democrat, so you can bet that the Republicans will try to block this legislation. I think the best thing we can do is start a petition to whitehouse.gov to get President Obama to come out IN FAVOR of it. That will kill the legislation in 30 seconds or less!
You have to love our government. They love to make legislation to tie the hands of the average person. But when it comes to big business and the wealthy, sure let them keep their money offshore and not pay taxes, then pollute the environment in the name of freedom. What about freedom for the average person?
If you were to look at all of the bills introduced in Congress, I would bet that a majority of them are designed to stop groups of people from doing one thing or another. I no longer smoke, but some cities now want to ban smoking in private homes. I can understand banning smoking in public, but in a private residence?
It is almost like the politicians cannot solve any of the SERIOUS issues that we face, so they go after easy targets to have something to show as an accomplishment. I HATE THAT! Do something about the income inequality gap. It is now easier for a lower class person to move into the middle class in like 28 other countries than it is here in the US. So much for this being the land of opportunity!
Enough is enough. I'm tired of the government wanting to know exactly what I do every minute of every day. I'm surprised they have not banned cash yet, since they cannot trace it. After all, if a person has cash, it can be used to buy drugs or illegal guns or just about anything.
We have a government now that believes what the average citizen does must be an open book for regulators to peruse through, so they can catch anyone breaking any law, no matter how minor. But what the GOVERNMENT and BIG CORPORATIONS do, well, that should be a secret with nobody entitled to know anything.
And I would point out that this is not a liberal/conservative issue. Remember, we got the Patriot Act under George Bush and that KILLED a lot of our freedoms with one piece of legislation.
I love the fact that we cannot regulate guns, because if we do then only the bad guys will have guns. But if we regulate cell phones, then terrorists and drug dealers couldn't possibly get them, right? Wouldn't the same principle apply?
A friend from England once told me that in Europe, the governments are afraid of the people. The problem in the US is that the people are afraid of the government. I think he is right and I don't think that anything can change that. Less than half of US citizens vote, and when they do, they blindly vote based on party. Nobody looks at individual candidates anymore, except maybe for President. If you look at where these people stand on specific issues, you will find it is much more complicated than liberals vs conservatives.
Re: 'Burner' Phones Could be harder to get in the US 
