How long until Feds and Local Law are abusing this?
And how can they abuse it?
So at any time they could track a non-stolen phone?
Surprise, they can do that NOW
How long until Feds and Local Law are abusing this?
So at any time they could track a non-stolen phone?
If your partner has a cellphone, there's a real good chance you can get access to his/her account information, to do such a thing. Just wait and see how often this comes up in divorce battles or bad breakups!
And how can they abuse it?
I would call that a fair analogue.True, and in this case the IMEI is akin to the VIN -- giving your phone number would be like giving your license plate.
Something something something Terrorism...yaddidy yaddidy blah blabh blah protect the innocent people....
Same way they abuse everything else. Duh.
Ah, you don't have a clue. Only bashing
And I can't help it if you can't surmise that my comment was basically saying "The feds will use the premise of terrorism to obtain the lists of phones and their users info to do with whatever they wish"
Thing that they can do NOW. It has nothing to do with a lost phones registry.
So, I repeat, how Feds can abuse this registry?
unless you dropped $200-300 on ebay or CL in which case you would be a victim.![]()
So at any time they could track a non-stolen phone?
IN THE SAME WAY. OMG YOU CAN DO THAT? YOU CAN ABUSE ONE SYSTEM LIKE YOU ABUSE ANY OTHER SYSTEM? THAT'S POSSIBLE????
God, stop arguing for the sake of arguing. It can be abused under the same premise that current phone registries are abused. IT'S JUST ANOTHER SOURCE FOR ABUSE.
Yes, but not because of this.
The database will only contain the IMEI of devices that have been reported stolen.
If your phone isn't stolen/lost, then it's not in the database.
That doesn't mean that your carrier can't track you anyway, they pretty much have to do that in order to provide you with service.
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How is it?
You keep ignoring the key point:
The database only contains IMEIs of stolen devices
The device that you have in your pocket right now isn't going to be in the database unless it's stolen.
i.e. they cannot ever track you using this database
I'd be very happy for the authorities to track down whoever stole my phone.
In the event that the phone is recovered, it would be removed from the database by contacting your carrier (if they didn't remove it, then it wouldn't work!).
In that event, your phone is no longer on the database, so you can put your tinfoil hat back in the cupboard.
As has been said repeatedly, the carriers and phone manufacturers already have the IMEIs of the devices people are using for obvious reasons. All that's new here is that someone's creating a database that says "these devices have been reported lost or stolen" - nothing more, nothing less. There's nothing in this database that cannot be found in a more convenient place by the carriers or the government. What do you think is going to happen?
"You had an iPhone 4S stolen last week - off to Guantanamo bay"
So you have a way for phones to be shut off in mass. Say activists are using mobile devices to get people to show up in one place. Those activists phones are reported stolen by some crazy coincidence. Phones are all deactivated around time of rally, protest or whatever. Kinda like how they do it now, but without needing to shut off towers.
So you have a way for phones to be shut off in mass. Say activists are using mobile devices to get people to show up in one place. Those activists phones are reported stolen by some crazy coincidence. Phones are all deactivated around time of rally, protest or whatever. Kinda like how they do it now, but without needing to shut off towers.
Because it's a more direct and targeted approach. You still need a court order to shut down towers at the moment.The problem with that is that it creates a trail of evidence that would be undesirable for the authorities. Someone would have to call the carrier and request the block. They'd need to know a lot of detail about the customer in order to do that. It could also be reversed by the device's owner in a matter of minutes.
If the police or other authority decided to do that, then that would leave a clear trail pointing back to them.
It's much easier to simply disable the network(s) in a specific area to do what you're describing. There's no way for people to really tell that it's happened (it could just be blamed on a "network fault").
Why sabotage someone's car engine when you can just hide the keys?
Because it's a more direct and targeted approach. You still need a court order to shut down towers at the moment.
This is an excellent idea. I was just talking with some coworkers about this a couple months ago and wondering why they didn't already do it. I also wonder if it can be applied to a phone that was lost/stolen before this database is started. I shipped a phone to someone who bought it on eBay and they claimed to have never gotten it. I would love to be able to get it deactivated now.
It's possible that they'll let you do that, but I don't expect that they'll automatically do it.
They can't be sure what has happened to devices that were reported lost/stolen in the past. It might be that the owner recovered their device and has been using it since.
But you don't need a court order to phone up a customer's carrier, impersonate them and report their phone stolen?
You could do far more effective things if you're prepared to be that illegal.
Why not just phone the carrier and cancel the contract instantly? It would be a lot harder for a customer to reverse that in a short period of time.
Why would you need to do that if you have access to the list or can add numbers to the list without the carriers even knowing? It seems like the system will allow local police to access and amend the list to their liking, and not vice versa with the carriers in charge of who gets shut down.