From: Duncan Frissell <frissell@panix.com>
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1998 05:39:20 +0800
To: Secret Squirrel <cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Subject: Re: IP: Cell phone tapping stirs debate
Message-ID: <199812152028.PAA20269@mail1.panix.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



Cellphones are not going to make great tracking devices in the future.

I was just visiting the UK and checking out how the cellphone industry has
been developing there.

"Pay as you call" phones are the fastest-growing segment of the industry.
You can buy a phone for as little as 49 GBP ($83).  Cellnet sells one for
69 GBP ($117) that works on the Continent as well.  You can buy the cards
to "feed" these phones from hundreds of UK vendors.

Throw away phones are becoming popular in the US as well.  As prices
decline towards the $20 level, it will be increasingly difficult for the
authorities to track the huge number of anonymously purchased disposable
phones. 

DCF

"Did you hear the one about the Chinese contractor who promised Burlington
Coat Factory jackets trimmed with cainus latrans but substituted canis
familiaris instead?"