Should U.S. wireless carriers brick stolen cellphones? [poll]
Summary: The 'bricking' technique is already used in the UK and Australia, but will it have an impact on crime prevention?
Thousands of cellphones are stolen every year, many under violent circumstances. One potentially quick and easy solution that could help to reduce the knock-on effects from phone thefts would be for the carriers to 'brick' the stolen handsets so they become useless.
But it turns out that the wireless carriers are dragging their heels when it comes to implementing this solution.
Before we go on, a word on 'bricking.' This isn't bricking in the sense of the carrier sending a secret code down to the handset that kills it stone dead. The bricking is done at the carrier end, with a device's ESN or IMEI being blacklisted and used to prevent the handset from being reconnected to the network.
This technique is already being used in the UK and Australia. However, the handset can be shipped off to a foreign country where it can still be used, or the IMEI number on some handsets can be changed. While far from perfect, it seems to have helped reduce cellphone thefts.
It's unclear why the carriers are dragging their heels. The only carrier to offer MSNBC a statement on the matter was Sprint which says that it is 'willing to cooperate and work with law enforcement officials on situations regarding cell phone theft' and that the creation of a national database or listing of stolen cell phones is a discussion the company 'is open to participating in.'
Likely reasons why carriers have so far been reluctant to set up a national database are cost and the need to cooperate. I've also seen a secondary reason, which is that the carriers feel that the system could be misused and legitimate phones end up being blocked -- either accidentally of maliciously. While all valid reasons, none seem like deal-breakers to me, especially given the potential violent nature of street robberies.
[poll id="759"]
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Talkback
RE: Bricking
wow
But like you say, i am from UK and if people steal them, they just sell them on ebay and people send them abroad, so doesnt stop much crime.
All new phones should have GPS and the ability to turn them on remotely. That way you can always find where they are.
Unconstitutional
This is contrary to both federal law and the constitution....
I didn't know LOJACK was illegal
So it's wrong to do the same thing for a cell phone if it's reported stolen?
GPS is on Verizon phones
I don't know about other carriers.
....
The only thing i cant do with it is turn it on remotely, but if it's my phone that belongs to me, why would that be illegal for me to turn it on?
All new 3G phones do have GPS
What is impossible is the ability to turn phones on remotely. For that to happen, the phone must be in a sleep mode and able to receive signals rather than fully powered off (and for those phones with removable batteries, the battery must be inserted). Unless the electronics of the phone are powered at some state and listening to radio signals, the phone won't be able to "hear" a command to wake it up. That's why professional identity thieves always remove the battery or power down a stolen phone they have acquired, because otherwise Enterprise users and people who subscribe to the consumer services like Find My iPhone can remotely wipe the phone to remove any sensitive data. This is usually much more valuable to thieves than the physical phone, anyway.
Remote turn on is impossible
This is possible on many android phones
The Problem With Bricking
Sometimes, this was legitimate because it was a parent calling to suspend their child's line because of a bad report card or something, but most of the time it was simply spiteful.
The most common issue is when a married couple is having problems, the wife or the husband will call to have their spouses' line suspended, or even canceled outright, simply 'to teach him or her a lesson'.
On some accounts, you look at the notes, and it is apparent that there has been a war going on between the people on the account....one person calls to suspend the other's line, then the other calls in to unsuspend the line and suspend the other person's line, and it goes back and forth over and over sometimes for months...suspended not for a legitimate reason, but simply out of spite.
Now....you give the carrier the ability not merely to suspend the phone but to (apparently permanently) blacklist the phone so it can never be used again....this is going to get ugly very quickly...
If they are going to implement something like this, it is going to need to be VERY strictly regulated, it must not be possible to do it by a call to customer service but rather in store only, and they had better require a copy of a police report, or a signed affadavit or something to prove that the phone really was STOLEN, not simply LOST but STOLEN and that it is not being done simply out of spite or to get revenge on another person on your account..,,,,otherwise this is ripe for serious abuse.
Sounds fair to me
Bricking problems
should be standard pratice in US
Better still
Also slamming hefty fines on anyone that not only steals a mobile but those that also find a lost mobile and fail to turn it in to the police or to the owner. I'd suggest something like $50000 for theft and $5000 for non-disclosure: that is, having found a phone and used it for anything other than reporting it lost or contacting the legal owner).
I've misplaced a phone that was a gift and to have gone back within half an hour of having realized exactly where i had sat it down .. just to find it was swiped. So i know exactly how demoralizing the feeling is to have lost something as personal: with so much personal data on it - and gotten absolutely no sympathy from some obviously low-life, petty thief who clearly takes satisfaction in pilfering, rather than doing the right thing and returning the item.
Making this law applicable in the U.S is a no-brainer - and, really, it should have been implemented a long time ago. Now, for the 5% bird brains that voted 'No'; who don't understand my sentiments, it's really quite simple ... if i can't use my own goods or gadgets (through theft or otherwise) NO ONE GETS TO!!!
This already happens in the USA...
LTE devices do as well but you can get around that by excluding that last 4 digits of the IMEI # when activating it.
The problem with the CMDA is that phones can be flashed to Metro or Cricket and then reused.
thank you!
Should not do this
It requires the carrier to act based on a "report" that may or may not be factual.
It requires response by police to the stealing of a phone - not sure about you but this would be way, way down on a police departments list of responses - they are busy.
Would likely require the use of built in GPS tracking which is illegal in the US unless you have a specific court order.
Would add another layer you would likely have to climb through when placing a claim with insurance for your stolen phone ("did you file a stolen phone shutdown and brick it form with the carrier cartel?").
No, this is not a good idea.... at least here in the USA.
You don't need that with a LOJACK system
The owner reports it stolen, and the device is enabled.
ya bud...
Do I need a police theft report number? How do they know it is valid
Do the police report the theft for me? I'm sure they appreciate the extra work for a free or under $100 phone.
Although I prefer that they could do it, the devil is in the details of making it idiot, sorry user proof.
Awesome
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