Stolen Cellphone Databases Switched On In US

alphadogg writes "U.S. cellphone carriers took a major step on Wednesday toward curbing the rising number of smartphone thefts with the introduction of databases that will block stolen phones from being used on domestic networks. The initiative got its start earlier this year when the FCC and police chiefs from major cities asked the cellular carriers for assistance in battling the surging number of smartphone thefts. In New York, more than 40 percent of all robberies involve cellphones and in Washington, D.C., cellphone thefts accounted for 38 percent of all robberies in 2011."

Welcome

[ledow]

Welcome to the 21st Century.

The EU has had this for over a decade.

Wrong: IMEIs are no longer unique

[stephanruby]

The new database blocks the IMEI number, a unique identification number in the cellphone akin to a VIN (vehicle identification number) in a car. The ID number remains with the cellphone no matter what SIM card is used.

10% of IMEI numbers are not unique [bbc.co.uk] according to British Telecom. That being said in the UK at least, if your phone gets blocked by accident, there is a procedure to get it unblocked - so all is not lost for you.

Re:38% of crime

[Psyborgue]

They are. It takes time to catch the small fish and work your way all the way to the top. A huge cell phone theft ring was broken up in the DC area last year. YMMV but some police jurisdictions are actually trying to combat this.

Re:Welcome

[Anonymous Coward]

The US will leapfrog over the chip and go directly to NFC, which not coincidentally is the same as "smart card" technology, just with a wireless interface instead of the gold plated electrical contacts.

Re:IMEI blacklist

[Andy Dodd]

The US didn't start using this blacklist until a few months ago.

I'm not sure why TFA says "Wednesday" - over on XDA, people with corrupt IMEIs started complaining 2-3 months ago.

(On Samsung devices, if the EFS partition gets corrupted, it'll be regenerated with a "test IMEI", which all European carriers block but US carriers allowed until recently. The test IMEI is blacklisted. Some shady characters were intentionally corrupting TO the test IMEI to prevent AT&T from detecting their device as a smartphone and all started whining when their hack caused their device to be 100% blocked as stolen.)

Re:Welcome

[jonbryce]

The NFC chip is powered by an induction coil in the reader. In London, the Oyster card is a pre-paid NFC card that can be used to access public transport. There are similar systems elsewhere in the world, including some US cities. We also have some NFC credit cards in circulation, and some places that take them, such as McDonalds, though they are not yet in widespread use.