Bill adds rules for prepaid cellphones

Lawmaker wants names and numbers recorded

A state lawmaker wants to require all buyers of prepaid cellphones to provide their names and other information for a statewide database to help police track down criminals, a proposal that is opposed by wireless companies as unwieldy and by an advocacy group as potentially unfair to immigrants.

State Representative John J. Binienda, Democrat of Worcester, said police often face roadblocks to investigations since a call made by a prepaid cellphone generally cannot be traced to the phone's owner.

Prepaid cellphones, which can be purchased off the rack at convenience stores and other retailers, do not require contracts or credit checks and come loaded with minutes that can be replenished using cash. The minutes typically cost more than packages purchased through conventional plans, and buyers have to pay full price for the phones since they're not committing to a contract. But prepaid cellphones are popular among buyers with no or poor credit histories who cannot qualify for a plan.

Binienda's bill, which is supported by Worcester police, is under consideration in the House and is not expected to pass this session, which ends this week. It will probably emerge again next year. It would require retailers to record the phone's serial number and phone number and the service provider's name, and to keep a copy of the driver's identification. The stores would be required to keep the information for two years and also supply it to the state attorney general's office and the wireless providers.

Legislation to require a photo ID to purchase a prepaid cellphone has been proposed in a few other states, including Michigan and Georgia, but has not passed.

"There has always been a concern that prepaid services in general enable anonymity in wireless usage and that's in part a concern because it lends to its use by criminals," said Fedor Smith, an analyst who monitors the prepaid cellphone industry for Boston-based consulting and research firm Atlantic-ACM. "If you're calling other prepaid wireless costumers, there's a completely anonymous network of people."

Smith said the phones are starting to gain wider acceptance as a flexible option for people who do not want to be tied down by a contract. Prepaid cellphones made up 17 percent of the wireless phone market nationally in the most recent figures available, he said.

The bill could raise civil liberties concerns because it would make what had been a private transaction one that would be monitored by the government and would make a broad swath of retailers responsible for collecting personal data. A spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union did not respond to a request for comment.

A spokesman for the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition said the bill could have the unintended consequence of preventing immigrants without IDs from buying phones. He also said he was concerned about who would have access to the database and how it would be used.

"Public safety officials have to respond to a lot of challenges brought forth by changing technologies, and we understand that," said Shuya Ohno, the spokesman. "Families struggling to make ends meet, whether in immigrant communities or communities across Massachusetts, very often rely on prepaid phone services for their communication needs."

But as prepaid cellphones have gained popularity, they have become "the phone of choice" for drug dealers, who buy them in bulk and ditch them over time, Binienda said.

He said he recognized the problem when he asked law-enforcement officials about a series of bomb threats called into Worcester's South High School. School administrators used caller ID to provide police with the number of the prankster, but police hit a roadblock when they discovered the calls were made from prepaid cellphones. When Binienda learned that the 2004 Madrid train bombing, which killed 191 people and was linked to terrorists sympathetic to al Qaeda, was set off remotely by a prepaid cellphone that could not be traced, he said he knew it was a broader problem.

A Verizon Wireless spokesman said the company opposes the bill for now because small retailers cannot be expected to keep the information safely stored.

"The proposed legislation would impact all types of retailers (not just wireless carriers), from mom-and-pop convenience stores to large department stores," Michael Murphy, a spokesman for Verizon Wireless of New England, wrote in an e-mail. "It's important to learn how these retailers would safeguard customer information (like photocopies of driver's licenses) and how any point-of-sale requirements would change customer service and sales operations, or customer satisfaction and cost."

Binienda said he has heard concerns from other cellphone providers, including AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile, opposed to the bill. "I guess they don't like the fact I'm asking them to do a little bit of work," the legislator said.

Smith, the analyst, said cellphone providers have a more basic reason to oppose the bill - sales.

"Obviously, the wireless industry has no interest in fostering or enabling a criminal element, but they do have an interest in driving revenue numbers," he said. "If you look at people buying the phones, whether illegal immigrants or a 15-year-old who doesn't have a driver's license, there's no means of ID. Requiring a driver's license and that that license be registered with the state, they're going to discourage purchase by a substantial number of consumers."

He also said part of the appeal for small stores that sell prepaid cellphones is that it's a quick transaction. Requiring record-keeping and the additional training of employees that would take could dissuade some retailers from continuing to sell the phones.

"If you've ever watched a Radio Shack employee trying to register a phone to begin with, it's not a well-oiled machine to begin with," Smith said. "It complicates the transaction substantially."

John C. Drake can be reached at jdrake@globe.com.