It would be a real pain, but you could always write down your message on a piece of paper and send it as an MMS (Sorry iPhone users!).

LUV2CattleCall

I caught my ex by checking her total/global minutes and also data amounts. You can clear the timers, you can clear the messages, but erasing the global timer/byte counter is next to impossible for your average blond to figure out.

Git Em SteveDave

@92BuickLeSabre: lester would've still caught em... maybe

accordionhero

@nutbastard:
That gives you 2.73 minutes a day if you milk it for the whole year. Which is more than enough for me.

sorry brosef, but you + "milking it" just doesn't feel too kosher in this situation. That, and charging by the hour instead of by the minute (for me at least) makes this more of a consumerist issue rather than a gizmodo issue. I'm just sayin'...

discounteggroll

@RGfin: under the earth hahah!
(if you say that there's a "rock" under the Earth)

Amiash

@Mandatory_Field:
morons usually go for politics and girls they couldn't afford otherwise... what about a Gizmodo fund for the gal, she should have required only clients using prepaid

Z

@doubletrouble: according to what i read he was a "regular", and the service in question included 1st class tickets to washington and a stay in a very nice hotel.

Errrr... they tell me, that usually you get better pricing for stuff like that. At least in my country.

Tensor

SMS is the most interceptable form of communication, almost as easy as unencrypted (99%) email. Disposable cells are good if you really dispose of them.

Nextel is pretty hard (not impossible) to mess with, as are satellite comms (á la iridium)(also NOT impossible) tho obviously both parties need to be using the service ie: nextelnextel SatSat.

There are several "anon" voip (skype) services you can use, provided you connect to them thru one of the open or payed vpn services (relakks). These could be used by only 1 party, but obviously no CC can be used to purchase the voip->landline minutes.

Tensor

@Mandatory_Field:
2.73 minutes per day is about one-and-a-half minutes more than I would need.

Slartibartfast

It was the series of transfers that popped Mr. Spitzer. As a governor, he and his family are under a higher degree of financial scrutiny from the outset, mostly from an anti-corruption standpoint. The flagged transactions were flagged because #1 he's the governor of New York, #2 he used multiple transfers to different accounts to put the bundle together. The only way to avoid this kind of thing is to #1 not be the governor of New York so that your accounts are not eligible for priority examination and #2 not be married and have shared accounts with a wife, such that you need to play a balance transfer shell-game in the first place.

Truth is, folks, every bank transaction you make is run through the same software. There's no "10 grand limit" to avoid. A transaction of five dollars gets analyzed, and gets ignored if you're Joe Blow from Cocomo. If you do 1,000 transactions of $5 apiece, expect many pairs of eyes to take interest, no matter who you are.

I think that most of the readers of this site are at no risk of what beset the governor of New York.

ninjagin

Maybe it's just me, but I'm already so tired of hearing about Eliot's spitzer...

Mandatory_Field

@nutbastard: "That gives you 2.73 minutes a day if you milk it for the whole year. Which is more than enough for me." Unfortunate juxtaposition, given that the discussion is about phone calls with hookers... wouldn't it get sore from milking it that long? [Heh, quotes taken totally out of context -- maybe I should run for office somewhere...]

Mandatory_Field

@Slartibartfast: According to the news, she was paid $4,300 for 2.5 hrs of work, which amounts to $1720/hr. The same sources I read states that super-high end escorts charge $5000+/hr, so you could say that Spitzer got a bargain!

doubletrouble

@Amiash: What rock have you been living under?

RGfin

@Benny Goldman: oh gnoes, don't invoke the blog police!

matto

@moo083: I have always been a fan of the Boy Scouts of America. Keep up the great work!

jdhuck

Yes, the bank filed a SAR with the federal government, which likely got investigated much quicker than usual since his name was Eliot Spitzer. But no, cellphones had nothing to do with it.

And I'm saying this as a programmer at a BSA Software company.

moo083

so he was the politician who got caught huh?

Amiash

@PynkFloydd: We're bloggers, not cops.

Benny Goldman

hey its legal here in germany.

knappoleon

While the prepaid phones are a great idea, it wasn't phone conversations that got Eliot busted. It was strange money transfers that bank employees "flagged" as suspicious that got the IRS/FBI investigating.

newgalactic

So where's the follow story where Giz prank calls hookers off of Craigslist and posts the audio on here for us to enjoy? ...using the reviewed pre-paid phones, of course.

PynkFloydd

@klew: I have seen a couple. You can walk in anywhere and ask to use the phone with good results. I have a friend that has this hobby. He told me that the service he uses requires a celly. I told him to tell Eliot hi for me.

jdhuck

How about just calling your old home town buddy. Have him take the cash out of his bank account. He gives it to you and you write him a check for "services" rendered. Clear money ready to get the stinkey dinkey..

MONSTERGOC

@Slartibartfast: $1000? You must not have been reading the news. $1000 would barely get you a hug with those broads.

Benny Goldman

Those $1,000/hr hookers are freaking awesome. I wish I had that kind of cash.

Slartibartfast

Kinko's (pre-FedEx days) used to provide phones for free local calls, I wonder if that perk is still around.

klew

"why not stick with text messages"
because if any one type of communication really IS monitored 100%, its SMS.

For people who hate 'chatting' on the phone, T-Mobile offers 1,000 minutes that are valid for one year for $100, phones start at $30. That gives you 2.73 minutes a day if you milk it for the whole year. Which is more than enough for me.

nutbastard

Pre-paid hookaz baby. It's the new rage.

eye4fx

beepers. at least that's how they did it on "the wire", and television is the best source of knowledge (at least it was in my home growing up)

discounteggroll

1) Buy them burners.
2) Buy them from a different store every time.
3) Randomize the order of the stores.
4) Do not let your girlfriend convince you to buy them all at one store because she's bored.

92BuickLeSabre

Holy mother of thorn first comment :)

GenNove

Text message won't work, that's how they caught the mayor of my fine hometown.

Benny Goldman

@ninjagin: If he'd done 1000 transfers of $5 apiece he'd undoubtedly have to pay his chauffeur a bundle not to reveal what street corners he'd been cruising.

infmom

@doubletrouble: And with those prices, how can you afford not to have sex with them?

wjousts

$1,000 hr / Avg run time pompus, holier than thou politico = $16.67

Curves

If you've ever read Asian newspapers then this kind of scandal is fairly boring. There is an entertainment company in Hong Kong that is essentially a full fledged prostitution ring. The catch, the prostitutes are their singers/actresses/etc. These are full fledged stars too with real singing/acting careers. It's just that on the side they have to sleep with super rich executives every once and awhile.

satoru

@satoru: Yep. It's not like Spitzer invaded a sovereign nation and started an unjustified war that led to the deaths of thousands of citizens while employing torture completely against every convention agreed upon in civilized warfare.

That would be a much more interesting scandal.

berribrand

I'm pretty sure there must be knowledgeable impresario or two already offering a fault tolerant ho service for politicians and their like, that said:
1) His real trouble are his financial dealings, that's how he got busted.
2) Perhaps he liked the danger, it added to the experience. Ask Bill.

MarlboroTestMonkey7

mnonths = MONTHS... sorry typo

Bachus_snowman

I mean $5K+ /Hr
do 4 hours a day
for 25 days
at 12 mnonths
and that would bring in $12,000,000
interesting

..

Bachus_snowman

He should have gone to Vegas. What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas. Very legal eagle too outside of city limits.

Noobs-R-Us

i are the future mayor of las vegas!!!!!

keyser

@GenNove: Not only did you try to claim first, you actually got second. Why did you try this? Why?

Reilaos, Man of Destiny

If you're buying a prepaid phone for illegal activities, you may want to pay cash. Duh.

FLskydiver

Ha, so can actually learn something on TV these days? The Wire is like f'n PBS. But apparently complex isn't the only mag to tackle the Spitz/tech angle. At least Laptop got some meat from a real P.I.
[blog.laptopmag.com]

supernegro