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butthurt [soylentnews.org] writes:

Congressperson Jackie Speier [wikipedia.org] is a Democrat representing the 14th congressional district in California [wikipedia.org], which encompasses San Francisco and portions of San Mateo county. She has introduced a bill [govtrack.us] (alternate site [govtrack.us]), the Closing the Pre-Paid Mobile Device Security Gap Act of 2016. If enacted, it would require "authorized resellers" of prepaid mobile handsets or SIM cards to collect the names, addresses, and birth dates of purchasers. Identifying documents would be required. Purchasers who give "false or misleading information" could be imprisoned for up to five years, or up to eight years for purchasers who are terrorists. If someone who is not an "authorized reseller" were to sell a handset or SIM card, that person could be imprisoned for two years, and fined. Authorized resellers who fail in their duties could be fined $50 per violation.

An editorial is on Gizmodo [govtrack.us].

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