[ndt]

"What they are doing - unlocking locked cell ... It's certainly a gray market and gray area."

But compared to what these guys have been raked over the coals for on these threads and in real life, they are angles.

[conservative in nyc]

To some FReepers, the only possible explanation for any unusual event is terrorism. If a Muslim is involved in the event, the designation is automatic, and no other logical explanation will change their mind.

We all didn't think these purchases made much sense - FReepers, the Wal*Mart clerk, the local police, and the FBI. I realized a few potential arbitrage opportunities in prior posts, where the value of the phone parts might be worth more than the phones themselves. But there appears to be a much simpler (and to some, less sinister) explanation for what the men were doing.

That some people come to rash judgments don't make what these men were doing anything more or less of a crime. And I don't think the US Attorney's legal theory is totally out in left field. Novel when applied to cell phones? - yes. Unprecedented when compared to other electronic goods? Perhaps not.