US Mobile Carriers Won't Brick Stolen Phones 269
WheezyJoe writes "NBC News has some disturbing security video of people getting assaulted for their smartphones. Such offenses are on the rise. Police chiefs like D.C.'s Cathy Lanier are asking U.S. mobile carriers to brick phones that are reported stolen, in order to dry up what must be a big underground market for your favorite Android device or iPhone — but right now the carriers won't do it. Such an approach has had success in Australia and the U.K."
This is a no-brainer (Score:5, Informative)
As per TFA, we've had this in the UK for years. As the US networks say, it's not perfect as the IMEI can be changed on some phones and they can be exported abroad but its a hell of a lot better than nothing. Most mobile phone robberies are not organised exporters, they're people after a quick profit, often to feed a drug habit.
It's common sense, it works, do it.
Re:So... what about security apps? (Score:5, Informative)
If your *smartphone* (not feature phone) is stolen, in particular if it's Android or iOS, there are a number of solutions , other than retrieving it.
And most of those solutions can be easily worked around by a knowledgeable person, at the simplest level by just reflashing the firmware. This is not just theoretical - IMEI reprogramming used to be common place for stolen mobile phones, and there was a whole cottage industry based around cracking IMEIs so that stolen phones could be reenabled (to be fair, there were a few legitimate uses, but the illegal usage far outnumbered that). Now that the manufacturers made it harder to reprogram the IMEI, stolen phones that are blocked by the networks are only useful for export to countries that have the same network technology. So there is still a route to profit, but it requires more organisation than just being able to list the phone on ebay or sell it down the pub, which is what used to happen in the old days.
one could use without having to resort to calling police to "brick" your phone
The police have nothing to do with IMEI blocking, the network operator does the blocking, and will do so when you report the stolen phone to them, which you obviously need anyway to do as you are liable for all phone calls until the theft is reported.
Re:Verizon will not activate a phone stollen phone (Score:4, Informative)
RTFS - police reports is how. (Score:5, Informative)
How is the carrier supposed to know that the device was stolen?
It says how right there in the fine summary -- "Police chiefs like D.C.'s Cathy Lanier are asking U.S. mobile carriers to brick phones that are reported stolen..." Presumably a police report has some legal backing.
Cheers,
Re:sue the carrier as an accompilce in the theft (Score:5, Informative)
Any accomplice to a felony is automatically responsible for anyone harmed in the commission of the crime, even if they didn't do it personally.
WRONG! (Score:4, Informative)
I know for a fact that Sprint (I worked for them for a while) creates a "lost or stolen" database. If your Sprint phone is stolen you report it to sprint and the "lost/stolen" service is placed on your phone. This renders the phone unusable: No calls, no messages. If you get a new phone, when you activate the new phone on the old number there is a check for "lost/stolen" and the SN/MEID goes into a database and that cannot be activated on sprint again. All allegations of carriers not concerned about the theft of phones is bogus.
My carrier is ATT. I know for a fact that they have exactly the same service although it is applied a little differently.
However, the phone would still be usable after hacking such as cloning. The carriers can only block the phone services on their network; not destroy the phone itself.
Re:sue the carrier as an accompilce in the theft (Score:5, Informative)
I'm amazed that some people haven't done the simple math to figure out the "free phone" scam. /month = $2449. This is not "free" in any sense of the word. It is a scam. /month = $1700.
Phone $49 + 24 month contract at $100
Compare this to:
Phone $500 + 24 month (no contract) at $50 (or less)
I personally have an even cheaper T-Mobile plan which costs me about $10/month since I use WiFi most of the time.
My actual costs for past 24 months with my Android Nexus phone:
Phone $539 + $230 service charges = $769.
Plus, I can tether as much as I want so I've saved at least $500 in hotel WiFi access charges.
This is the real way to get a "free phone"... not the phone company way.
My phone is paid for and works great. I love it and it should keep me happy for quite a while.