Cell Phones and Privacy

Question:

In the old days pay phone booths were a common sight and you could use one and retain your anonymity if desired. Today they are a rare sight and most people use cell phones.

Prepaid cell phone service can protect privacy. One can buy a phone for cash and pay cash in advance for service. There are no billing records, and records of calls made on the phone are not linked to the owner. Cell phone carriers and governments in a few countries have considered ending prepaid phone service because criminals use it to avoid law enforcement agencies who can not trace them. What are some legitimate uses for prepaid cell phones? Should prepaid cell phones be banned or otherwise controlled by law (i.e. require cell phone users to register their prepaid cell phones so they can be tracked)? Give your reasons.

Answer:

Some legitimate uses for cell phones could be if someone cannot afford a regular phone and cannot afford the monthly bills. Prepaid phones are very inexpensive and can be paid for whenever you have the money for it because you pay for your minutes before hand. If you don't use your phone often and only need to contact a few people here and there, then prepaid phones could be very economical. I don't think that prepaid cell phones should be banned by law because of the people who can't or don't need to pay for their phones monthly. I feel like requiring prepaid cellphones  to have a registration by the owner could work and I would not have a problem with that. I feel like doing that would help the problems with prepaid cell phones because you would be able to track them just like any other cellphone to prevent criminals from staying anonymous.