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Hack Your Phone, Go to Jail

Posted by timothy on from the yes-that-is-what's-next dept.

thodu writes: "This bill [Mobile Telephones (Re-Programming)] in the UK aims to make it illegal for anyone to change a GSM phone's IMEI number. Though the intention in this case is seemingly for the good (to track and prevent stolen phones from being used), the line between legitimate mods and illegal hacks is increasingly becoming blurred. What next - a bill to disallow modifying your PC ?"

3 of 525 comments (clear)

  1. A good thing... by FyRE666 · · Score: 4, Informative

    While I generally don't agree with restrictions on the use of hardware I buy, this is a special case. The law is intended to reduce the amount of phone-thefts in the UK (the phones are then reprogrammed and re-sold). There is currently a huge problem with phone theft over here which is driven by the fact it's so simple to give a stolen phone a new identity, so I don't think this legislation is over the top...

    --
    Code, Hardware, stuff like that.
  2. already a law in US, sort of by ProfKyne · · Score: 4, Informative

    I don't mean to troll here, but isn't this similar to laws against removing VIN (vehicle id numbers) and serial numbers from high-cost goods in the US?

    Of course, if this law extends to prohibit other modification of the phone that interferes with fair use, I suppose that's different....

    --
    "First you gotta do the truffle shuffle."
  3. Re:Legitimate reasons for changing the IMEI? by Jucius+Maximus · · Score: 4, Informative
    "you are still alowed to do that, There is no connection between IMEI and your phone number. IMEI is more like a MAC adress your phone number is pure software,(actualy bound to the sim#) So bad example."

    Yeah but at the level of the cell phone network hardware, the IMEI number (or in my case the ESN number) is what identifies the phone to the network.

    If your phone is stolen and you tell the mobile service provider, they tell the network to disable access to the phone with the ESN# (or IMEI#) shown on your account information. If you change this ESN/IMEI number, you can register this phone again with a new service provider on a new account and the network won't know the difference and won't be able to disable the phone's access.

    This is why changing the IMEI number is valuable to phone crooks.