Readers' Comments

Reader Comments on Aardvark Daily 17 March 2003
Note: the comments below are the unabridged submissions of readers and do
not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publisher.
From: Joshua Powell
For : Right Of Reply (for publication)
Subj: Prepaid phones and net access

In Australia we have never been able to purchase pre-paid
net access or mobile phones without ID. I wonder what
difference you really think it will make? What's the big
deal about having your details recorded as the owner of a
particular pre-paid device? It does not infringe on your
rights, it does not mean the government will in any way be
able to listen to your communications any more than they
currently can. So, why worry?




From: Dave
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Prepay Net Access

I don't think prepay net access will suffer the same fate
as prepaid mobile phones.

If it's a prepaid dialup service you still have to make a
connection from phone account.
The phone number that makes the call is delivered and
recorded when a dialup connection is made and this
information potentially removes the anonymous nature of
the pre paid internet access.

DSL or wireless connections might be a different story.
But nobody offers these as a prepay yet.




From: robert rozee
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: spam solution?

    i don't know if you have seen this or not:
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20030313.html

what cringely proposes is that when an email system sees a
message from an unknown sender (ie, not in the recipient's
address book) it sends back a note asking for a 5 cent
payment to complete delivery of the email - this being paid
to the recipient. the neat part is that for most users the
payments and charges would tend to even out, so the only
people who would end up actually in the end would be the
spammers  :-)




From: James
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Prepay cellphones

You know it just as wasy to buy a second hand phone, or
pinch one from thhat guy in the pub. Hey waht about just
taking it to make that one phone call that puts you terroist
cell into action and then putting it back. Now that's planning!




From: Allister Jenks
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: Pre-pay does not mean anonymous

When I had a pre-paid cellphone, the reason I had it was
the pricing plan, not the fact that it was anonymous.

In fact, there has been at least one occasion where I have
been shafted specifically because it *was* anonymous.  If
you can identify yourself to the business, you can be
accorded certain priveledges and you have some standing
under NZ law.




From: Bernhard Pfahringer
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: prepaid

I would not be surprised if your predictions came true.
Nonetheless, I strongly oppose all that silliness. Where
will it end, maybe outlaw internet cafes, public phones,
even paper money and coins, maybe implant some recognition
chip into every baby at birth. I suppose I should not have
said that, somebody will read and actually do all that.

Seriously, if we can believe the media, the latest Al Quaida
suspect was traced down even though he used prepaid phones.
So why outlaw them?

Of course, all that will not matter once we have huge
wireless networks run by lots of individuals instead of
ISPs.




From: Tim
For : The Editor (for publication)
Subj: PrePaid Second Hand....

If you purchase a phone second hand you don't give ID, so
if this system was to be enacted would it requires some
kind of registration form to go with change of phone just
as we have "change of ownership" forms for cars? Someone
said that you need ID to buy them in Aussie, what happens
there when someone sells their phone to someone else?

Re PrePaid Net access, do you invisage this requiring
people to show ID to use a Internet cafe?
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