Can you hear me now??

Sure, secret random wire-tapping across America sounds like an invasion of privacy for all law-abiding citizens...then stories like this break...

"...But since they can be difficult or impossible to track, law enforcement officials say the phones are widely used by criminal gangs and terrorists. "

"Law enforcement officials say the phones were used to detonate the bombs terrorists used in the Madrid train attacks in March 2004. "

"The growing use of the throwaway cell phones has been cited by President Bush as an important justification for expanding the wiretap laws under the Patriot Act.

"Law enforcement officials can now use what's now called roving wiretaps, which will prevent a terrorist from switching cell phones to get a message out to one of his buddies," Bush said on April 20, 2004. "

I'd prefer the government ban the sales/import of disposable cell phones until they can enact a registry database (similar to weapon purchases), rather than find ways to track those consumers post-purchase. I cringe when I imagine how many sales went unnoticed because a store clerk didn't find it odd to sell 50+ disposable phones to an individual paying cash.