dslreports logo
 
    All Forums Hot Topics Gallery
spc
view:
topics flat nest 
Comments on news posted 2014-02-07 10:11:33: In April of last year, wireless carriers and the government announced that they'd be collaborating on building a new nationwide database to track stolen phones (specifically the IMEI number, not just the SIM card ID). ..

page: 1 · 2 · next

robbyglack
@comcast.net

robbyglack

Anon

unfortunately the solution is probably to get rid of SIM cards

i hate ti say this as a huge fan of easy SIM swapping, but i have been in and around the used cell phone scene for nearly 20 years. the shady places that buy stolen phone for export or quick resale deal almost exclusively in phones with GSM SIMs. walk into a shady corner grocery that buys used phones no questions asked and you would be lucky to get $10 for a CDMA iphone 4 or sprint GS3 or note 2. the same shops will pay top dollar for GSM version of the same phone. make GSM more like CDMA and a huge part of the stolen phone industry would disappear.

aSic
application specific
Premium Member
join:2001-05-17
Wakulla, FL

aSic

Premium Member

Oh cant wait!

I see the day where Anonymous..or the Syrian Electronic Army triggers these kill switches and causes chaos...

Or the gummermint decides to "kill off" communications for a dissident group... #fail
raythompsontn
join:2001-01-11
Oliver Springs, TN

1 recommendation

raythompsontn to robbyglack

Member

to robbyglack

Re: unfortunately the solution is probably to get rid of SIM cards

CDMA will not work overseas, GSM will. That is why GSM phones fetch more money as they can be shipped and sold overseas.

Corehhi
join:2002-01-28
Bluffton, SC

Corehhi to aSic

Member

to aSic

Re: Oh cant wait!

said by aSic:

Or the gummermint decides to "kill off" communications for a dissident group... #fail

Bet the government does love the idea because it would give the NSA the ability to shut down all phones at any type of uprising.

amarryat
Verizon FiOS
join:2005-05-02
Marshfield, MA

amarryat

Member

Simple solution for the carriers.

Stop selling cell phones in California

Frank
Premium Member
join:2000-11-03
somewhere

Frank to robbyglack

Premium Member

to robbyglack

Re: unfortunately the solution is probably to get rid of SIM cards

having rented a sprint labeled cdma phone that was reprogrammed to use the local network of the country I was in at the time, I disagree.

besides that cdma is going away and will eventually be replaced by lte and volte

robbyglack
@comcast.net

robbyglack to raythompsontn

Anon

to raythompsontn
said by raythompsontn:

CDMA will not work overseas, GSM will. That is why GSM phones fetch more money as they can be shipped and sold overseas.

CDMA actually does work in several countries including russia, ukraine and india. but the phones are just not very interesting to small shops quickly buying and selling phones on the streets in america. CDMA phones are actually available refurbished at rock bottom prices wholesale. these are often bought wholesale , exported and flashed in the destination country. GSM/LTE has much togher encryption/security than CDMA NV items. i would be surprised if GSM/LTE phones with embedded SIM cards would be easily switchable to other carriers.

PlusOne
@comcast.net

PlusOne to aSic

Anon

to aSic

Re: Oh cant wait!

said by aSic:

I see the day where Anonymous..or the Syrian Electronic Army triggers these kill switches and causes chaos...

Or the gummermint decides to "kill off" communications for a dissident group... #fail

+1
It will happen.

robbyglack
@comcast.net

robbyglack

Anon

apple does not disable blacklisted phones

i am surprised that apple has not been compelled to use the activation lock feature not only when activated by the customers but also when the phone is listed in the 'lost/stolen blacklist' it quite common to find the latest iphones without out activation lock enabled but clearly listed as 'stolen' in the blacklist. i also have heard from many different people that apple will replace blacklisted(reported stolen) phones when brought into stores for warranty issues. the replacement are not blacklisted. there are people who make a living getting these phones swapped out. i understand apple is not the police and should not be confiscating phones are necessarily even refusing warranties. but they could report the old and new IMEI's so that the replacement has the same blacklist status as the original, or perhaps warranty replacements should have the original phones IMEI written onto them at time of issue.

JimMcCoy
join:2011-08-20
Midlothian, VA

JimMcCoy

Member

Stupid Law

Good intentioned... sure
Bad for business...maybe
Environmentally unsound...definitely.

I understand minimizing theft, but in the long-term (given the increasing scarcity of the materials needed to create these devices), this is foolish.
biochemistry
Premium Member
join:2003-05-09
92361

biochemistry

Premium Member

Better solution

There are better solutions than something that could be devastating when abused by law enforcement/government and hacker groups.

tshirt
Premium Member
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA

1 recommendation

tshirt to aSic

Premium Member

to aSic

Re: Oh cant wait!

said by aSic:

...the day where Anonymous..or the Syrian Electronic Army triggers these kill switches and causes chaos...

Why wait for them, some entitled twit deciding THEY need more bandwidth to play games will trigger it, probably during a weather or other 'disaster' event.
Besides a real KILL switches needs some explosive or chemical/bio component to live up to its name and make buying/using/holding a stolen phone not worth it.
gaforces (banned)
United We Stand, Divided We Fall
join:2002-04-07
Santa Cruz, CA

2 recommendations

gaforces (banned)

Member

Or just for the lol's. I remember when remote TV's and garage door openers came out, you could open anyone's door or change their channels jingling a set of keys.

It's much to dangerous to deploy this tech on cellphones and vehicles.
I'm not too worried about my cellphone getting stolen. So who is worried about this?
Insurance company's and law enforcement. Follow the money!

vpoko
Premium Member
join:2003-07-03
Boston, MA

vpoko to amarryat

Premium Member

to amarryat

Re: Simple solution for the carriers.

Shouldn't cost them much revenue at all, California isn't a terribly populous state.
vpoko

vpoko to aSic

Premium Member

to aSic

Re: Oh cant wait!

said by aSic:

Or the gummermint decides to "kill off" communications for a dissident group... #fail

They can already do this through the carrier (instructing them to suspend accounts), they don't need the ability to do it at the handset level. Hackers, on the other hand...

RARPSL
join:1999-12-08
Suffern, NY

RARPSL to robbyglack

Member

to robbyglack

Re: apple does not disable blacklisted phones

said by robbyglack :

... but they could report the old and new IMEI's so that the replacement has the same blacklist status as the original, or perhaps warranty replacements should have the original phones IMEI written onto them at time of issue.

The ability to write the IMEI into the replacement phone is a BAD idea. So long as there is a way of replacing the original IMEI of a phone with a new one, this opens the path to having stolen phones having their IMEI altered so they spoof some other phone and are thus untraceable.

amarryat
Verizon FiOS
join:2005-05-02
Marshfield, MA

amarryat to vpoko

Member

to vpoko

Re: Simple solution for the carriers.

I was being facetious. There is probably a better route that's market driven rather than government driven. If cell phone manufacturers started charging Californians an extra $200 to include that feature in their phones, how long would this law last?
Millenium
join:2013-10-30

Millenium

Member

...

Don't pay your bill? Don't plan on ever using that phone again.

vpoko
Premium Member
join:2003-07-03
Boston, MA

vpoko to amarryat

Premium Member

to amarryat

Re: Simple solution for the carriers.

It would probably be followed by a law saying that phones sold in California can't be priced any higher than phones sold elsewhere. I'm not saying I agree with it, or that the courts would, but market driven isn't going to happen because the market drive is to go the other way: allow the stolen phone to be activated, increasing revenue for the carrier.
rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO

rradina to tshirt

Member

to tshirt

Re: Oh cant wait!

That sounds drastic. All that's needed is to design the SOC with an embedded fusible power link and a mechanism to blow the link in response to the proper command.

As long as the link is embedded in the chip, it's not serviceable.
rradina

rradina to amarryat

Member

to amarryat

Re: Simple solution for the carriers.

If you do that, the pot shops will simply give away free phones if you pre-pay your monthly trips.

vpoko
Premium Member
join:2003-07-03
Boston, MA

vpoko

Premium Member

Pot shops sell trips?

amarryat
Verizon FiOS
join:2005-05-02
Marshfield, MA

amarryat to vpoko

Member

to vpoko
At one time weren't cars sold in CA more than elsewhere because of extra emissions equipment that was required on those cars?

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

I'd like to see region locks

I'd like to see region locks on cell phones so they can only be activated on carriers only in the country where the phone was sold but can roam in countries other than the home country of the subscriber.

Part of the problem of smartphone theft (particularly iPhones) is the lucrative export market and having hardware based region locks (phones sold in the US can only be activated on US carriers, even if unlocked) would put the kibosh on the smartphone export black market.

International roaming is becoming so cheap (particularly with T-Mobile) that region activation locks would not be a bad idea. I still support being able to bring your phone from carrier to carrier in the same country.
rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO

rradina to vpoko

Member

to vpoko

Re: Simple solution for the carriers.

Maybe I'm old. In the 70s the folks I was around called it "trippin'".
moonpuppy (banned)
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD

moonpuppy (banned) to IowaCowboy

Member

to IowaCowboy

Re: I'd like to see region locks

Sometimes, getting a local SIM card is cheaper than international roaming.

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

I think international roaming is cheaper than having a $649 (starting no contract price for iPhone) phone stolen. The reason I posted about region locks is a big driver of iPhone theft or "Apple Picking" is the lucrative export black market. I have the 32 GB iPhone which costs $749 out of contract to replace. I think if I was traveling overseas, I'd buy a cheap prepaid phone where I'm traveling.

Maybe they could have the region locks in the more expensive or high theft phones, just like cars that are determined by the insurance industry to be high theft have stronger theft deterrent features. Basic flip phones though could be sold without the kill switch or region locks.
moonpuppy (banned)
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD

moonpuppy (banned)

Member

I prefer to have my own phone and just swap out a SIM card.

IF the phone gets stolen, then the lock can be put into place but why should I have to spend money on a cheap phone when I have my own?

SimbaSeven
I Void Warranties
join:2003-03-24
Billings, MT
·StarLink

SimbaSeven

Member

Massively abused, much?

I can see this being a complete disaster if they decide to toast the used phone market. Maybe they should register phones like they do fire arms?

So, when someone sells their phone, it's entire history is registered to the mobile devices division of the ATF (renamed MTAF).

ilikeme
Premium Member
join:2002-08-27
Stafford, TX

2 recommendations

ilikeme to IowaCowboy

Premium Member

to IowaCowboy

Re: I'd like to see region locks

You have obviously never dealt with international roaming costs. It can add up quick. Region based SIM card locks would be a horrid idea. It is often cheaper to get local SIM cards and use them in your existing phones. Would not really help deter theft much either.
page: 1 · 2 · next