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Brazil Blocks Foreign Mobile Phones
First time accepted submitter fabrica64 writes "The Brazilian government has today started blocking mobile phones not sold in Brazil (Portuguese-language original), i.e. not having paid sales taxes here. The blocking is based on IMEI, and if you come to Brazil for the World Cup in June and think of buying a Brazilian SIM card to call locally at lower rates, then it won't work because your mobile's IMEI will be blacklisted as not sold in Brazil. This is not a joke, it's true!"
Now stolen iPhone's from the US will be worth SLIGHTLY less. Because nobody can clone an IMEI...
This is a new low, blatant lies in the summary only for cheap country based hate and some pageviews. Good job!
Should we understand that some of the articles posted on Slashdot are jokes then?
http://www.telecompaper.com/news/brazil-to-introduce-mobile-blocking-system--1002303
Brazilian mobile operators will start testing from 17 March a new system that will block mobile calls made by pirate devices, reports Folha de Sao Paulo. The total blockade of the devices will be effective from September. Until then, during the so-called "pre-operational" stage of the system, equipment must continue to function normally. When an operator identifies a device without approval in Brazil, the system should activate the blockade, for phones as well as tablets.
The new system of the operators compares lists of domestic and foreign records to verify which mobile phones are authentic.
If your phone is flagged as being stolen then it is blocked...
It says that MODELS not sold in Brazil won't work there, not devices. So, for example, iPhones will work because they're sold there. It's been known for a while and the law was designed to avoid low quality, low security Chinese android phones to be sold.
They may be able to boss around the world cup officials but wait til the IOC wields its economic might to force Brazil's hand.
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
Will it affect roaming or only sim swaps?
This submission appears to be nonsense posted by someone who hasn't read the article they linked to.
This isn't about blocking phones sold outside of Brazil, but models of phones that are not certified for use in Brazil. So you can take your Nexus 5 or iPhone, but it's probable that some no-name cheapo phones may not work.
The IMEI number contains codes for the manufacturer and model, so you can white-list those models that have certification from the Brazilian FCC.
Paul Leader
So you go on vacation in Brazil and you either pay international roaming fees or you buy a cheap dumb phone to make local calls. Lame but not too expensive. Furthermore a dump phone needs to be charged once per week or even less frequently.
Btw, are they going to confiscate tourists clothes on entry? They've not been not bought in Brazil, so no sales tax paid there!
The original article actually says that the government will block devices that were not approved by Anatel (Telecommunications Agency) due to many of the smuggled cheap phones and tablets (most of them manufactured in China) have not passed their certification.
Although the idea is good, I think it will cause lots of issues with users with valid and certified devices. Let's wait and see....
Actually, the news talks that the government action is to block phones that are not homologated (technicaly certified) by the Brazilian's telecommunications agency (ANATEL, the coutrie's equivalent of the FCC). It doesn't have to do with sales tax and seems to be intented to prevent the use of "pirates" phones, that might cause problems to the telecommunications network or even to the users. For example: if you buy an iPhone in the USA you could use it at Brazil, because this model is homologated by ANATEL. However if you buy an obscure Chinese cell phone (derogatorily called in Brazil as "Xing Ling phones") that was not certified, then you will not be able to connect it to the mobile network.
...this line:
"This is not a joke, it's true!"
This sig no verb.
Just don't go to Brazil for the World Cup in June.
And HTC, Acer, Archos... There are a lot of brands not selling in Brazil oficially.
"First time accepted submitter fabrica64 writes"
I'm curious what fabrica64's failed submissions were. This should of been one of them.
Is a scar of dictatorship. One motherfucker in the 60s had the "bright idea" to decide that any importation of computers should be banned or taxed absurdly, to "encourage local manufacturers." Today we have no local manufacturer, and computers continue costing twice or even more (More money to sustain the privileges of politicians). Do not forget that Brazil was never a civilized country.
Religion: The greatest weapon of mass destruction of all time
Brazil has a problem of being overly controlling of its economy. The kind of stuff the conservatives will hop on and try to discredit any government controls on the economy.
I think the main thing they are trying to stop is reselling on the black market.
Chances are you are not going to resell your clothing if you are on a trip. But you may sell your phone if you need a quick buck... Or you may come in with say 20 of them to sell. Brazil has a heavy sales tax on stuff, so I expect black market sales of goods is probably much higher then the government wants to admit. So it is a crackdown on what they can crackdown on.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
So, this is to prevent cheap Chinese knock-off phones from being usable? Well guess-a-what, most of them already include a helpful utility to set the IMEI to whatever you want. All the fix will be is a couple of lines of whatever the Portuguese equivalent of "Engrish" is called, instructing the buyer:
Much enjoy new DroidPhone Galaxy 5!
For luck of happiness, user set IMEI copy basicphone
Please IMEI set application WRITE IMEI
Excellent signal received all times!
---
DRM is like antifreeze, to the MPAA/RIAA it's sweet, to the consumers it's poison.
Vetting individual IMEIs is neither practical nor legal, as you can't stop someone from using a government approved, legally imported phone from using it on all networks.
You're wrong. It's both feasible and, in many countries, legal.
Turkey already does this. If you use a foreign phone of any kind with a Turkish SIM, your individual IMEI will be blocked in 24-48 hours. The only way around that is to pay a significant fee to the government, register your phone/IMEI, and then wait a week or so for the registration to take effect. Note that you can't register AFTER the phone is blocked. If you let it get blocked, you're basically screwed.
Turkey does this to prevent the importation of phones that didn't pay local taxes, and also to ensure that all users of phones/data are registered and tracked within the country.
GeekNights!
Late Night Radio for Geeks!
It may be true, but it is nonetheless a joke.
Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
The official policy is that if a device is FCC-certified or ETSI-certified, it WILL NOT be blocked.
http://macmagazine.com.br/2014...
Dear aunt, let's set so double the killer delete select all
Turkey has been doing this for a while. Money hungry pricks.
They just want to make sure the phones used in the Brazilian networks did pass certifications (E.U, FCC or whatever else)
Others claim it means the carrier will say "This model has passed FCC certification but, unfortunately for you, not Anatel. No service for you." What in the article rules out that interpretation?
and get rid of pirated crap.
Apple has maintained, and a U.S. court has agreed, that Android phones made by Samsung are pirated.
nobody in the government here would want such a major embarassment
Not to mention that the "so-called" block would start only in September. Thus, does not apply for the period of the FIFA World Cup.
...not that it was really at the top of my list anyway. But seriously? They expect you to buy a new phone just to visit/travel there? That's going to be a serious problem for a lot of people. It's almost as though they want you stay out.
Downmodding is the refuge of the weak. Don't downmod, make a better argument!