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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
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.
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