The Stolen Cell Phone Bill

[Gregg]

So stolen phones are a big business and linked with all kinds of violence, identity theft, etc. The service providers can already blacklist stolen phones turning them into bricks. Remove the profit and the crime will go away. I'm usually one of the first to defend business, but with the decision to not expand the blacklist voluntarily mobile providers will receive no support from me. Under the new guidelines the FCC has given the providers 18 months to implement the blacklist of stolen phones which will be shared between all of them. The technology is already there. I think I would have given them 18 hours to start shutting down stolen phones and about a month to figure out how to share the IDs with each other. Lots of folks will cry "profit over people". In this case I won't argue with them. It's shameful.

[iris lily]

I don't know the specifics of the bill, but sure, on the surface, removing one illegal profit center from ghetto income streams seems like a good idea.

It's just that with technology there is always a way around it, and it takes them about 5 minutes to figure it out.

[Gregg]

I'm not tech savvy enough to know if there is a way to "jail-break" (ironic term at best) a stolen phone that would allow it to be reactivated, ID numbers changed, etc. If there is I suspect that industry is already gearing up.

[CathyA]

It was also mentioned in the news that these stolen phones will probably be going to other countries, so unless they enforce the black list there, there will continue to be theft.
I think people just shouldn't use the phones in public, if they can avoid it. Or maybe use an ear bud and keep the phone hidden.

[JaneV2.0]

Discreet use of cell phones--what a novel idea!:thankyou:

[CeciliaW]

You used to be able to tell the schizophrenics by their discussions with unseen beings. Not so much anymore.

I can't tell you how many times someone has said Hi to me and then turned away, only to leave me puzzled, then realizing they weren't talking to me but rather the voice in their ear.

While we're at it, do people not realize that we can hear every little detail of their conversation, whether we want to or not? Do the people at the other end realize that everyone in the grocery store is hearing about their latest 'event'?

Just boggles me, it does.

[JaneV2.0]

i literally followed a woman around a thrift store once, trying to catch the end of some convoluted yarn she was spinning from her end of a cell conversation. i'm not proud of that...

[creaker]

They shouldn't just blacklist - they should be able to "lojack" the phones, like they can for laptops and ipads. Or leave it on, collecting call information and following up with those people.

It would be prohibitively expensive for police to be chasing down all stolen cell phones, but the threat of it would make a stolen cell phone much less valuable. But on the customer side, disabling a cell phone should be made as easy as having a stolen/lost credit card disabled.