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Stolen Cellphone Databases Switched On In US
alphadogg writes "U.S. cellphone carriers took a major step on Wednesday toward curbing the rising number of smartphone thefts with the introduction of databases that will block stolen phones from being used on domestic networks. The initiative got its start earlier this year when the FCC and police chiefs from major cities asked the cellular carriers for assistance in battling the surging number of smartphone thefts. In New York, more than 40 percent of all robberies involve cellphones and in Washington, D.C., cellphone thefts accounted for 38 percent of all robberies in 2011."
Welcome to the 21st Century.
The EU has had this for over a decade.
The cellphone is less of the cost than the service.
come on fhqwhgads
Carriers decide to start using the exact same technology to block users from re-selling used phones.
Yes, hi this is Jonny Law. You can pull over with your hands-free up!
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
Even more to the point, are the phones stolen in robberies and other human-confrontations taken because they want the phone, or are they taken so that the victim can't call the authorities instantly?
I'd expect that cell phones stolen face-to-face would fall into the latter more than the former.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
ebay should join in, since most such phones are probably sold through ebay. They should ask sellers to type in the phone number and block the sale in phone is in the database.
And not, say, keep them working and use the traces to eventually find the folks who have them? That would seem much more sensible.
Ezekiel 23:20
What I don't understand is why that much crime is going uninvestigated. Why aren't there dedicated law enforcement units working in major metropolitan areas to recover these phones? In most jurisdictions, they are valuable enough to qualify the theft as grand larceny. What's more, each cell phone has a built-in tracking device accurate to within a few meters, and have microphones and cameras built in! These aren't exactly difficult crimes to solve.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
They already blacklist imei but it's only on a per carrier basis which is obviously easy to get around simply by using a different carrier with the blacklisted phone. Having a global blacklist database is definitely a great improvement. The only two question is, will phone re-sellers also use the blacklist (like many prepaid companies that rely on the major companies network) and when can we have a global database to prevent sales to out of the country as well.
steal the phone and kill the person with the phone, to have a good chance that the phone will not be reported as stolen.
Also it impacts the used phone market, since you can't be sure that the phone is stolen or not. Unless there is a easy way to match phone with owner, you can never be sure that the used phone you bought today wasn't stolen yesterday and is on the row to be blocked.
Wait, isn't this the database for blacklisted IMEI's which supposedly is international?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Mobile_Equipment_Identity
I think the point is more to prevent the phone from being resold on craigslist and the like. I don't think they care how it got stolen. Last time an article came up on slashdot about it, only the account owner could list the phone as stolen, and only the account owner could unlist it.
What are we going to do tonight Brain?
In Sweden you need to report the phone stolen to the police before blacklisting it. Works like a charm. No problems what so ever.
The new database blocks the IMEI number, a unique identification number in the cellphone akin to a VIN (vehicle identification number) in a car. The ID number remains with the cellphone no matter what SIM card is used.
10% of IMEI numbers are not unique according to British Telecom. That being said in the UK at least, if your phone gets blocked by accident, there is a procedure to get it unblocked - so all is not lost for you.
Don't forget the opposite purpose. What if any authentication is required to put a serial number or whatever in the DB as either a prank (ha ha cube mate) or the stereotypical insane spouse going after the other spouse during divorce or whatever?
If its just a web form somewhere, T minus x minutes until some goofball DDOSes the web form to add all serial numbers from 00000000 to 9999999 psuedorandomly to the stolen DB.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
Oh, I know about the resale angle. I was just curious as to how often stolen phones ended up being put into use. I agree with the system blocking the use of reported stolen phones.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
This is great and has been too long in coming, I'd guess most of the challenges were administrative vs. technical.
What's next? How about iPods?
Wtf, this wasn't done already? Phones have unique IDs, stolen ones should be tracked down and owners jailed.
If IDs are changed there will be collisions or IDs that don't exist or haven't been released from some pool yet. Somebody pays by CC, track that way. If by generic CC or time card, shut the damned phone off, tough.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
But as it is "Bad ESN" cdma phones are being sold on CL. I can see this making it less lucrative, but not stopping it entirely -- especially since the big phone theft rings like they had in the DC area last year repair the phones and send them overseas to be sold in the middle east.
What do they care? They'd rather you bring in your old phone than buy a new one, because they subsidize the cost of the new phone. A carrier's favorite customer is the one who's still using his original iPhone 1. Still paying for a data plan, using relatively small amounts of data, and they paid off the subsidy a long time ago.
... whose phone gets on this list by accident. Suddenly a good customer becomes a dirty criminal. I'm sure there will be no way to rectify the mistake.
"Here Lies Philip J. Fry, named for his uncle, to carry on his spirit"
Both android and iphone have the ability to be "rendered useless" by the OS maker. let me be able to set a "stolen flag" that locks the phone in a states that says "STOLEN PROPERTY CALL 1-800-XXX-XXXX to report and return" that cant be easily bypassed. I.E. restoring the iphone will not disable it, etc... this will make the street value of any stolen smartphone $0.00 instantly. THAT will fix the problem and apple could put that in place with a trivial amount of coding as they already have "find my iphone" as a part of the OS. Android on the other hand will take some work as it lacks that feature.
The phone OS makers refuse to put a simple system like this in place because stolen phones make them money.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Actually you own the phone as you bought it outright. Part of the contract is the early termination fee. If you don't pay the termination fee, the phone company can go after you to collect that, but it's not tied to the phone via a lease, they would have no more ownership of your phone than your car. A house mortgage or car loan is different.
Except carriers typically subsidize a phone, so selling you a phone costs them money. They'd be much happier if you just keep using your old phone or buy second-hand phones.
What?
And how do you get your phone OFF the list if someone adds it maliciously or accidentally (types a 2 instead of a 3 when entering the identifier for a phone that's been stolen, for example?) Who do you need to contact (from a different phone or in person, naturally) and what proof do you need to give that you are the owner of the phone?
Thought someone had stolen some "cellphone databases", whatever those were, and had just gotten around to switching on the databases they'd stolen. Clicked because I was curious what a "cellphone database" was.
Carriers want you to sign a new two-year contract. They also aren't entirely thrilled that you can get an inexpensive second-hand phone and activate it on a prepaid plan. T-Mobile already does block a phone's IMEI if the the original owner abandoned their account with an unpaid balance (a matter that should be left to collection agencies, not handled by blacklisting a phone). Worse, T-Mobile is known to block a phone after it's already been sold and is in use by a new owner who had no way of knowing the previous owner didn't make good on their final bill. There's a whole thread about this on HowardForums.
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DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
probably (hopefully) they will require a police report to be filed, as is required, say, for claims against bank card fraud. you'd have to be a total moron to file a false police report.
"They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
You're right. Here is a document dating back from July 2011 (the emphasis in bold is mine).
GSMA has launched an initiative to fight mobile theft, and has worked on IMEI security best
practice. GSMA and DIGITAL EUROPE members drafted and approved 2 common
documents:
Technical Principles: intended to strengthen the security of the International Mobile
Equipment Identity (IMEI)
* GSMA Doc Reference: Security Principles Related to Handset Theft 3.0.0
* DIGITAL EUROPE CCIG Doc Reference: DIGITAL EUROPE Doc: 04cc100
Process in place: GSMA and DIGITAL EUROPE have agreed on a process to report alleged
breaches of IMEI integrity and on the introduction of counter-measures to correct and
improve IMEI security.
* GSMA Doc Reference: IMEI Weakness and Correction Process 3.0.0
* DIGITAL EUROPE CCIG Doc Reference: DIGITAL EUROPE Doc: 04cc101
Apparently to the drafters of that document, IMEI integrity and security (whatever that means to them) is something that must be constantly monitored and maintained. And while this does not prove my original point.
As a mobile software developer, until I know what those "counter-measures" are supposed to be in the first place, I'm just going to assume that what was true 10 years ago can still be true today, and I can not completely rely on an IMEI being completely unique. So whatever software I build that takes this assumption to heart, I'll have to leave a process in place to manually override my system if that that particular edge case ever comes up.
A stolen phone database sounds great, doesn't it? Just like how Trusted Computing saved us from malware and viruses and the big content providers would never dream of using such a system against end-users. Oh, right.
Here's what's wrong with this system, in a nutshell...
It does nothing to prevent theft. Fun fact: two carriers in the US already blacklisted stolen phones prior to this database, Sprint and Verizon. Hear much about thieves asking first if you're a Sprint or Verizon customer before they mug you for your phone? Neither have I. eBay is full of phones that are listed as carrier blocked or bad ESN and people still buy them. Let's not forget Craigslist, where it's pretty easy to scam people into buying useless phones (Oh, you wanted to test your SIM? Sorry, I forgot to charge the battery. Better buy this phone quick, I've had three other people interested in it!) Finally, regardless of whether or not a phone can be easily re-sold, it still has value as parts (especially with today's easily breakable huge screens). This database doesn't make stolen phones worthless, it only makes them slightly less valuable - which may actually lead to increased levels of theft.
Wireless companies will use this system to blacklist phones with unpaid balances. Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile already do this. Now, keep in mind the wireless companies still send you to collections and ruin your credit report, but that's apparently not enough. Naturally, none of the wireless companies in the US make it clear that they have these policies, so plenty of these phones still end up on the used market. You don't have to ask around much to find someone who has a horror story about purchasing an unusable second-hand cell phone, because the previous owner never paid their final bill.
So, now you've got a situation where it's a gamble to buy a used phone. Thankfully, the carriers are your knights in shining armor - they're coming to your rescue with two-year-contract subsidized handsets and full price prepaid handsets. Why would you ever want a used phone anyway, citizen? Don't you know someone had their dirty, disgusting fingers all over it?
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DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
Last time I black listed a phone was about 10 years ago. I took the police report to the local Vodafone store and they used my account history to verify the IMEI number I was giving them was the phone I was using.
They required a police report because there was no easy way for them to remove the IMEI from the list, as it was periodically shared with other carriers internationally
The career criminal guy who stole the phone probably never put his own sim card in it, or even wasted his time turning it on before selling it to some hooker.
You would think the list would be a simple REST API-backed site.
Carriers submit IMEI, Carrier, Police Report Number, CreatedOn. Upon activating service, their middleware would make a call to the API providing the IMEI. IMEI count > 0? NO SERVICE FOR YOU.
You can probably rely on the IMEI being set by the manufacturer is globally unique. The number is made up from a combination of manufacturer number, a model number, a serial number and a check digit. The ones that come from the grey market and those that have had their IMEI illegally reprogrammed, are the problem causing duplicates.
No, because it's not centralised. Some carriers share them overseas (with Vodafone, they likely share it with other Vodafone Group members and they then share them with other local carriers) but not all. And I imagine most cellphone carriers would be quite resistant to putting that much power in the hands of a third party too.
For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
Good starting step, but why are they not pushing this further and making it worldwide? I do recall Europe has one big database already, they can join that and try and extend it further.
That, assuming the telco's actually block the phones in the first place.. As an ex-employer of a telecoms company in UK, I've seen first hand how certain providers ignore customer's calls or requests to block a stolen phone just so they can make money off the next sod who buys it and needs a contract...
You can probably rely on the IMEI being set by the manufacturer is globally unique. The number is made up from a combination of manufacturer number, a model number, a serial number and a check digit. The ones that come from the grey market and those that have had their IMEI illegally reprogrammed, are the problem causing duplicates.
I don't believe that's the case.
From what I remember, the problem stems from IMEI spec being changed. At first they had to be unique, then they no longer needed to be unique after a certain year. Now they need to be unique again.
I realize what I'm saying sounds weird, but that's what I remember happened.
According to the GSMA, the IMEI number is globally unique amongst GSM IMEI and CDMA MEID numbers.
http://www.gsma.com/newsroom/ts-06-6-0-imei-allocation-and-approval-guidelines/
They refused to give the kids a case number or police report number. In fact, they told the kids that if they wanted a number, they'd be happy to run the kids in for a trespassing and loitering and something about bothering/scaring my parents and then their parents would have to come get them out from being arrested. So I really think the cops were not interested in doing any paperwork at all in that case. But they were obviously bored and unoccupied enough to come out for such a trivial thing.
No, this is overkill.
I live in Australia and had a phone lost/stolen a few years ago (I say lost/stolen because it was my fault I lost it, but when I called the number, some random picked up and talked with me for a minute, until it became obvious that I was the owner of the phone and that I wanted it back, at which point they abruptly hung up). All I had to do was call my provider and report the phone lost and the IMEI was blocked on all Australian networks within a day or two.
Note though that YOU have to provide the IMEI, which usually acts as sufficient proof of purchase/ID. I couldn't just call up and say "please block my phone". I had to call, prove I was the account holder, AND read them the IMEI I wanted blocked (which was on the box the phone came in). They obviously have a record of what IMEIs were used on the account, but I still had to tell them which to block, both as a security measure and because I could have potentially used any number of phones on that account/with that SIM card, so they need to ensure the correct phone is blocked.
If you're looking to purchase a second hand phone in Australia, on the other hand, you should always ask for the IMEI and check it on this site: http://www.amta.org.au/pages/amta/Check.the.Status.of.your.Handset - this allows you to check whether an IMEI is blocked in Australia or not.
If these phone really are stolen, I see no problem if we could make them explode when turned on by the thief, fence or fence customer... When you buy a hot phone, expect to loose your hand, just like what would happen to thieves in Islamic countries...
"For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong." -- H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) --
In the UK you generally call your provider, request a permanent/temporary block (I have added a temp block when I mislaid my phone until I found it again). They already know the IMEI and the SIM details and phone number, so once you have passed their normal security checks they can block it correctly.
even criminals don't want to walk around with an phone that doesn't work as a phone
Then explain why the iPod touch still sells.
How exactly are stolen iPod touch products blocked from tethering to a non-stolen phone?
People put a whole lot of power/trust in third-party non-profits all the time. ARIN, ICANN, etc.
I know. I'm the one who linked to that document. That document is dated July 2011, and it has been changed many times.
You don't have to believe my claim below if you don't want to. After all, I don't have the original source for what I'm claiming, so I wouldn't believe myself either if I were you, but the original document had attached an initial expiration date to the requirement of keeping those numbers unique. And for a while, devices with non-unique IMEI number were coming out of Chinese factories, and there was nothing you could do because they were just following the guidelines correctly. These were not grey market devices.
You're right, I don't believe you.
Several countries have already blocked all duplicate IMEI numbers. Kenya did it last month and Dubai did it in May
and sell it as what?
The Galaxy Player came out in October 2011. It looks like a Galaxy S and works like a Galaxy S, except for no cellular radio. It's very much like an iPod touch, and it's what I would have bought had it come out a year earlier. (Instead, I bought an Archos 43 Internet Tablet, which is the same thing with no GPS and no multitouch.)
the device physically would look line a phone
Excuse: factory second.