Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

US Carriers Finally Doing Something About Cellphone Theft

Posted by timothy on from the att-still-has-my-resentment dept.

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.'"

9 of 155 comments (clear)

  1. Fun prank of the week! by Kenja · · Score: 5, Funny

    Report your friends phone as stolen! Hilarity ensues.

    --

    "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
    1. Re:Fun prank of the week! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Sadly, I expect this will become one of the many popular ways to upset an ex-spouse

    2. Re:Fun prank of the week! by icebike · · Score: 5, Informative

      This just doesn't happen. Look, people, the vast majority of carriers in the world already to this, and they have no such problem.

      There are checks and balances. Some require a police report, others simply require you to appear in person, show your ID and match it to your account credentials.

      Contrary to popular opinion, this scheme wasn't dreamed up by 7th graders, Its built into the GSM spec and widely used.

      --
      Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    3. Re:Fun prank of the week! by tripleevenfall · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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?

    4. Re:Fun prank of the week! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Report your friends phone as stolen! Hilarity ensues.

      I find it funny that i see this every time, this is mentioned. In the UK this has been available for as long as i have been using some form of mobile phone (about 10 years). And when you block a phone here you don't use the phone number its the IMEI Number that belongs to your handset...which is a lot harder to just get off your friend and then have blocked.

      Also in this country on top of that if its a contract phone, at least on the network im on (T-mobile), i had to do the same authentication that you normally have to perform to get into your account. This is also reversible if you are on contract if you recover the phone it can be unblocked, but only by the account holder.

    5. Re:Fun prank of the week! by Artraze · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

    6. Re:Fun prank of the week! by Lashat · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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
  2. Why 18 months? by icebike · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Long overdue, this technology has proven to reduce phone theft in places like Australia. Getting mugged for your phone is rapidly becoming very common in the US. There is a switch in every GSM system database designed for precisely this purpose. Its in the GSM specs. All these carriers are running the same call connection software. (Most of them are too clueless to have developed their own).

    Why not turn it on WITHIN carriers in 45 days flat, and between carriers within 90 days? Some say there is money to be made by selling you a new phone, and the carriers were unwilling to forego that revenue stream. The thief (or the people who buy from the thieves) have to sign up for service, but they won't be buying any new phone with that service. Many also suggest that a good portion of the non-contract market is using stolen phones.

    But turning this on is not hard. Carriers have been dragging their feet on this for decades.

    The tinfoil hat in me expects the carriers to turn this into another way to make money, if not by charging a fee, then by using it as an excuse to not accept phones purchased elsewhere, or by insistin you bring your phone in for them to record the IMEI, and charging a fee to record it.

    --
    Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
    1. Re:Why 18 months? by jomegat · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.