Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

US Mobile Carriers Won't Brick Stolen Phones

Posted by Soulskill on from the unfriendly-balancing-acts dept.

WheezyJoe writes "NBC News has some disturbing security video of people getting assaulted for their smartphones. Such offenses are on the rise. Police chiefs like D.C.'s Cathy Lanier are asking U.S. mobile carriers to brick phones that are reported stolen, in order to dry up what must be a big underground market for your favorite Android device or iPhone — but right now the carriers won't do it. Such an approach has had success in Australia and the U.K."

13 of 269 comments (clear)

  1. sue the carrier as an accompilce in the theft by RichMan · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Accomplice in theft. The phone would be useless if the carrier was not cooperating. So the carrier is adding value to and encouraging the theft.

    Should be a nice massive group action lawsuit in there somewhere.

    1. Re:sue the carrier as an accompilce in the theft by RichMan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Would you be happy if someone was issuing a new registration to your stolen car?
      Such that it was fully legal and usable by someone else one stolen.
      That is effectively what the phone carriers are doing.

      The phones have the equivalent of MACaddress/VIN number and are fully traceable to individual sales by the carriers. And they should not be allowed to reconnect to any network.

      People are getting assaulted for this. Anyone been killed in a cell phone theft? Charge the carrier with accomplice in the murder.

      What the carriers are doing is worse than the "guy who did not know but got conned by friends into driving the getaway car".

    2. Re:sue the carrier as an accompilce in the theft by Mabhatter · · Score: 1, Insightful

      One could argue that the phone company technically "owns" more of the phone than you do because of subsidies. So in that case, "somebody" has to pay for a new SIM card so the phone company gets a customer.

      Although in the USA every boyfriend would be reporting their girlfriends phone "stolen" when she left them and it would be a support nightmare trying to keep it all straight.

    3. Re:sue the carrier as an accompilce in the theft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I didn't know DVD players had to authenticate and connect to government regulated organizations to provide their basic functionality.

      Dumbass.

    4. Re:sue the carrier as an accompilce in the theft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If a lawyer needs a lead plaintiff for a class action suit, post contact info here.

      I am perplexed about how lost or stolen Verizon phones don't find their way back to Verizon. They are supposedly not capable of being reactivated with their hard-coded EIN numbers. So why does anyone steal them? If only Verizon and/or Assurion marketed the fact that they don't reactivate phones reported stolen and that they'd give a $50 reward for returned phones (paid by subscriber), we'd see a drop in Verizon phones growing legs.

    5. Re:sue the carrier as an accompilce in the theft by TENTH+SHOW+JAM · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If the phone is reported stolen, make the carriers responsible for any calls made by the handset. The victim has done the right thing by reporting the theft.

      Make it an economic penalty if the company refuses to take action. It's the language they understand. Get the courts to back up the victim and the problem will go away in weeks if not days.

      --
      A sig is placed here
      To display how futile
      English Haiku is
    6. Re:sue the carrier as an accompilce in the theft by TooMuchToDo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The carrier would require a police report. Would you risk filing a false police report and being convicted of the associated crimes to screw with someone?

    7. Re:sue the carrier as an accompilce in the theft by sjames · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Safeguard that by requiring a police report to be filed first. Someone might still abuse that, but then they're guilty of a crime and have documented where to find them.

      Would you be willing to go to jail just to piss off the new owner?

    8. Re:sue the carrier as an accompilce in the theft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The carriers have no problem bricking a phone if you don't pay your bill.

    9. Re:sue the carrier as an accompilce in the theft by Cimexus · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yep. My iPhone was $900 here in Australia. I have some American relatives and when they visited they were all like "man, you got ripped off, it's only $200 (or whatever) in the US".

      Then we added up what it cost me vs. them over 24 months. I was way ahead (since my plan is only $15/month).

  2. Why would they want to decrease revenue? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If your phone gets stolen, you have to buy a new phone; most often this is done by people signing up for 2 more years to get the subsidized handset since few are willing to shell out $300+ for a smartphone. And whoever ends up with the stolen phone also signs up for service. So every stolen phone results in a new customer, an extended customer, and a (subsidized) phone sale.

    But if they BRICK your stolen phone, then theft of stolen phones decreases, which hurts them because they'll have fewer new customers, fewer retained customers, and fewer phone sales.

    That hurts profits, which is un-American. I'm shocked and appalled that someone in the public / government sector would suggest this! It might be time to privatize the police forces... that way the telecoms can stop relying on 3rd parties to enhance their sales and have the cops start stealing your phones directly.

    Captcha was endemic. It's like slashdot KNOWS.

  3. Re:Brick it yourself by DaHat · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Brick != Wipe

    Many smartphones phones have the ability to be remotely locked or wiped... but not in a permanent way that can prevent the phone from every being used again on any cell network.

    --
    Help Brendan pay off his student loans
  4. Re:It would be awesome by Sentrion · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If the person you are mad at gave you their cellular service account number, then they deserved to get their phone bricked. Otherwise, how is calling the service provider (presuming you know who they get service from), going to result in their phone being reported as stolen? Not to mention that the service providers would probably require a police report before bricking the phone. So now you are going to be charged with filing a false police report as well as wire fraud with malicious intent, depending on your jurisdiction. Smart move.

    You could just as easily call the police and say that your car was stolen and give them the license plate of the person you are mad at so that they get pulled over then next time they pass a squad car. How many days have you spent in jail each time you got mad at someone? Maybe you should just stay in your mother's basement.