Cell Phones Arenโ€ t Criminalโ€ s Best Friend NYPD to Track Cell Phone If Arrested; Senate Passes โ€ Safe Communications Actโ€

No bad deed goes unpunished, or at least that s how things should work
in theory. Cell phones are more and more popular this days, and the
smarter they get, the more people want to use them. And it looks like
both the U.S. Senate and the NYPD are aware of the importance of cell
phones in our lives. Don t be afraid, nothing is going to happen to you
or your cell phone if you re not a criminal.

Let s take the Senate for example! They have just passed the Safe Prison
Communications Act of 2009 which basically says that it s ok to jam cell
phone signal inside any prison. The reason behind it is pretty simple.
More and more convicted felons are finding ingenious ways to smuggle
cell phones inside prisons. That way they can keep conducting their
business despite being locked up for a number of years. Once the bill
goes through the House of Representatives we can expect prisons to start
jamming the phone signal. I guess that most inmates will quit trying to
bring phones inside once the jamming devices have been deployed by the
state. The other ones will probably get satellite phones instead.

On a different, but very related note, it looks like NYPD officers are
currently being instructed to record IMEIs from the phones removed from
jailed suspects. NYPD hopes to build up a database which will let them
match phones with certain crimes. That s certainly bothering to a
certain level since such conduct is against the rights of the suspect.
Unfortunately for the NYPD, keeping such a database could be pretty
difficult once criminals hear about it. They will simply have to change
phones frequently and thus make the job of the New York s Finest a lot
more difficult.

Wondering what an IMEI is? It s a number that s unique for each phone
out there which means every time you change your phone the IMEI also
changes. Maybe the NYPD should track the IMSI number. That s a number
associated with the SIM card which lets carriers track subscribers no
matter what phone they are using at the moment. But the NYPD isn t doing
anything like that, are they?