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Sites like Amazon, eBay, and Gumtree (UK online classifieds) sell miniaturized 2G mobile phones with minimal metallic components that can be conveniently stored in the human rectum. UK Member of Parliament, Secretary of State for Justice, and Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain David Lidington wants to put a stop to that:
Justice secretary David Lidington has called on Amazon, eBay and Gumtree to block all sales of miniature mobile phones. These tiny handsets, often less than eight centimetres long, can be bought for £25 online and easily smuggled into prisons. Many are advertised with the slogan "Beat the BOSS," a reference to the Body Orifice Security Scanners (BOSS) used by prison officers to detect knives, firearm components and other small metallic objects. During a speech for the British think tank Reform, Lidington said he had written to all three asking them to take down products clearly intended to "evade detection measures in prison."
"It's pretty clear to me that these miniature phones are being manufactured and sold with the purpose of being smuggled into prisons," he said. "Why after all are they also advertised as being without any metal components?" Lidington said everyone, including retailers, had an interest in tackling organised crime. Miniature phones can be sold for up to £500 in prison, forcing desperate inmates into a lifetime of crippling debt.
Also at Boing Boing.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Friday December 22 2017, @08:07PM
Hmmm, I think you've muddled your facts.
But assuming the obvious, how hard is it to prevent phones from being smuggled in?
This is clearly the failing of (or just as likely the doing of) the guard staff that are letting phones inside.
But why get all worried about it. I the UK, the likelyhood is that the cellphone is full-take monitored, and allowed in by the government on purpose. It is likely that if the guards aren't smuggling them in, the government spy agencies are doing it for them.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.