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US Carriers Finally Doing Something About Cellphone Theft
New submitter zarmanto writes "In a move that is so long overdue that it boggles the mind, the FCC and the four largest cellular providers in the U.S. state that they will be joining forces to combat cell phone theft. From the article: 'Over the next six months, each of the four operators is expected to put in place a program to disable phones reported as stolen and within 18 months the FCC plans to help merge them into a central database in order to prevent a phone from being used on another carrier's network.'"
Sadly, I expect this will become one of the many popular ways to upset an ex-spouse
Part of me hopes, sincerely, that a process is put in place to prevent this type of action.
But in reality, I know that such a process will not exist until AFTER a couple million phones get bricked by pranksters, jilted lovers, or whatever black hat group decides to get some lulz.
This signature is false.
While there is always room for abuse. However for the most part I see this a good thing. You steel a cell phone, it won't work. People will be no longer interesting in buying hot cellphones. So robbers will stop stealing cellphones. Of course I still like the find my phone features where we can get cops to raid them after they take your phone.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
It's no wonder the carriers didn't want to do anything to suppress phone theft: if your phone is stolen, you're back at the AT&T store, buying a new phone at full unsubsidized price.
Why would a carrier want to stop that?
The tinfoil hat in me fully expects them to use this to kill the used phone market, jail breaking, and any number of other things that are consumer-unfriendly. "Oh, you lost your phone and don't qualify for a new free one yet? Sorry, you can't buy a used one from your bud. You have to buy a new one from VZW/ATT/etc." This is a solution rife with problems for the consumer.
In theory, practice and theory are the same. In practice, they're not.
Of course I still like the find my phone features where we can get cops to raid them after they take your phone.
This assumes that the cops actually care about 'small' crimes like stolen cell phones.
Spoiler Alert: There are far too many police forces who wouldn't arrest someone even if you gift wrapped the case for them.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Just like when you report your (friend's?) car as stolen when it's not? Is it hilarious before or after you're arrested for filing a false report?
Just as a car has a serial number identifying it (VIN) that is registered with the current owner, the cell phones have a number (IMEI) that identify it which can be linked to an account owner. They would simply check the database and confirm that the phone is running on the proper account.
The trouble is that cars have very specific rules regarding their sales which handle re-registering with the new owner. This proposal, however, doesn't seem to cover transferring ownership in the database, so if your friend bought the phone secondhand, then there could, indeed, be trouble.
I was looking for this post so I could avoid repeating it.
I want to add another wrinkle. Not only does AT&T sell you a full priced replacement phone AND a new lost/stolen insurance policy, they also make money from the new owner of your old phone as AT&T will likely connect their new service.
For every benefit you receive a tax is levied. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
This sounds like a great idea. Keep a record of all ESN's that are stolen devices and make it so none of these can be used on any carrier in the country. This would go a long way to reduce the trafficking of stolen phones. However, there needs to be some rules on what constitutes a "stolen" phone.
1. Carriers should not be able to disable a phone unless the owner has reported it stolen. (I.e. They cannot list phones that are on unpaid contracts, without compensation to the owner of the phone.)
2. The database must be available to check if an ESN was reported stolen, and if it is, return contact information for the owner or his agent.
3. The ESN must be removable from the list, if the owner of the phone requests it.
4. A means of transferring stolen ESN's between "owners" or "agents"
Somehow though, I don't think this is what the carriers have in mind. My guess is that they want to stop folks from getting expensive phones cheap on contract, then dumping the contract and selling the phone for quick cash. Being able to disable the phone on all US carriers would make this much harder to do.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101