Comments on: Is Owning 1,000 Cell Phones Terrorism?

Serious Questions Arise About Arrest Of 3 Palestinian-Americans

[alphaa10-2009]

The old profiling issue raises its multiple heads, once again. Sure, a legit businessman will multiply profit with every good deal he makes on a mobile phone. So, why not buy 1,000 and truck them everywhere? These guys are like door-to-door salesmen, and what they spend on tires and gas, they save on UPS and FEDEX.

Yet, a terrorist also will want multiple-- as yet unindividualized-- phone numbers from which to switch every few hours. The number used is not yet assigned to a name and address, so it is unknown to the NSA surveillance computer. Further, by installing a special chip, the user can bypass normal controls on even registration of a snigle transmission. This multi-phone juggling is a cruder version of what the US military has done for years-- random switches between multiple frequencies used for a single communication.

The message here is this is a tough "call" to make for law enforcement-- there is both a legitimate profit motive, exactly parallel to a suspect capability for the seller and purchaser. If the van made deliveries of 50 phones each to terror cells in ten US cities, that would be a serious obstacle to tracing the calls. To a terror organization setting up an infrastructure, distribution of these phones would be a critical first step. The only countermeasure would be to cancel the current method of prepaid sales, altogether.

[jimkun]

Don't forget! These terrorists were also planning on blowing up deer, ducks, flowers and trees. We have PROOF. It was on their digital cameras! Wake up everyone. Everyone is out to get us! We have to protect our American freedoms by sending them down to Guantanimo! That way, no need to waste time on a trial!

[tellitasitis]

is it a crime to be alert of the current situation and is it a crime for our appointed law enforcement officals to do their job which INCLUDES to investigate anything out of the ordinary (which possessing 1000 cell phones is a little "out of the ordinary") if you have nothing to hide - you have nothing to hide.....

as well if YOU had heard about a group of men who had 1000 cell phones that the police knew about before hand and turned out they were up to no good say to detonate explosives in your region - YOU would undoubtedly be the first to call for the heads of those very law enforcement personel......

[tellitasitis]

random_radar

if you make it a practice of carrying around 1000 cell phones then I think you or anyone who does should have a problem (unless of course you are a cell phone salesmen then it would be possible however still unlikely) and if you don't then what are you mumbling about? they can already get your conversations if they want.... should we all shriek with fear?? no - not unless you have something to hide otherwise - enjoy your freedom - at least your allowed to have one.... (and can afford it)

[random_radar]

What most concerns me is the nature of the laws being used to prosecute these men. According to those laws, all of us can be defined as terrorists at the whim of government officials. There is no proof that the cell phones are going to be used for terrorism--but it is against the law to buy an item that could be used for terrorism. I own a cell phone with a battery, therefore I could be accused of being a terrorist under these laws. Don't think that would happen? If you make an enemy of someone politically connected, it certainly could. Just because you think you have nothing to fear today doesn't mean it won't change tomorrow--especially if we as a nation accept these laws.

[bodmass]

These people aren't just claiming to be nothing more than 'buy cheap - sell expensive', good ol' American businessmen. But they are actually known to be!

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4117318.html

DALLAS %u2014 The three Dallas-area men arrested in Michigan on state terrorism charges are well-known to cell phone wholesale and retail shops here, where managers said Monday they are part of a brisk trade in buying phones from Wal-Mart and other discount stores and reselling them to smaller shops.

Source: Houston Chronicle

[clestes-2009]

Since when is it a crime to buy multiples of an item at a cheap price and then resell for a profit? Or taking pictures of a bridge. I hardly think a person can fix a bomb to blow up a bridge without detailed photos. How detailed were these photos? Did they show the bridge supports closeup? I have a better question. Would they have been arrested if they had been white and did not has middle east names?

It is getting pretty ridiculous when you can't conduct a business venture without being accused of terrorism. Don't the police have anything better to do than hassle citizens trying to make some money? The Michigan prosecutor is dreaming if he thinks this is going to wash. The judge will dimiss this out of hand.

[sharncedar]

but of course the interesting question is why 1000 is more exciting and scary to red state folks than say 10 cell phones. It is hard to imagine in a practical sense what one does that is delicious and wicked with 1000 cell phones. Perhaps puts them in a big box and throws the box at the mysterious "bridge" of which there are photos. Perhaps one extracts terrible fluids from the batteries that alter genetic material. Perhaps one uses them to tie up the network switching of the local mobile provider by making 1000 simultaneous calls. If only we knew it would be fun, but as every red state yokum knows, we cannot ever understand the minds of these people, they are bent on world domination, who can fathom such a thing.

[jasperrdm]

First one guy looks like a guy i had in class in high school and the other looks like a son of a co-worker. Change the names they fit in here in Al. Also don't be to uptight about the stupid business plan. I seen grunts day after pay day blow money on deals like this. Since it happen at Walmart, I was shopping there years ago, I saw a guy with great silver dragon medallion. I comment him on. He offer to sell to for $70 right now but he got for $40 at the Silver store. So it only a stupid idea if no one buys.

[brm13]

Ok so it turns out that the airplane passenger lists are old left int eh car by a relative who works for the airlines, and the guys just resell them to make money. Capitolism at its best. So why does Fox news tell us every five minutes that these guys were going to blow up a bridge. Fear Mongering at its finest!!