Federal legislation is being proposed in the Senate that would bring an end to the anonymity of prepaid phones, which are used by people in New York City with all kinds of reasons for not wanting to be linked to a phone number.

Under the new bill, anyone buying a prepaid phone would have to give identification, and retailers would have to keep the records for 18 months. The sponsors, Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, and Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, said ...