I call the government to implement anti-theft of my hard earned money by greedy corporations.![]()
Thieves must be running up to victims and snatching the phones right out of their hands or pick pocketing them or breaking into peoples homes to steal them.... how else are they being stolen if they're not unattended?
Oh, and you can forget about the cops doing anything about it. I used "Find My iPhone" to track it and called the police to report the location. Their response: "What do you want us to do about it? It's your word against theirs that it's stolen." That was even after I'd filed a police report.
If only there was some type of number assigned to the phone in hardware that the carriers could use to identify the phone and refuse to provide service to stolen phones. No that's crazy talk.
How about a PIN to turn off? That would be amazing.
What can realistically be done by the manufacturers?
This is the best post in the thread.
A PIN to access the device and a PIN to shut it off renders the phone fairly useless and also makes tracking it much easier. Then it simply becomes a race against the battery.
VERY easy. All they need to do is put serial number inside each phone that are burned in and can never be changed. These numbers would be stores in a "Write Once" memory that is build into the CPU.
Typicaly "write once" is implemented with a fuse inside the CPU. After the data is written the fuse is blown and the circuit that does the writing is forever disabled.
Next, this serial number is always sent over the network and compared to a database of stolen phones. If a stolen phone is detected in use a command is sent that will flow a second fuse that completely disables the phone. So the effect is that any stolen phone will become a brick just as soon as it is reported.
Apple is totally NOT motivated to do this because theft makes them money. They get to sell a replacements phone. Anti-theft features would cost Apple money and reduce phone sales
----------
The problem is where to store the PIN. It can NOT be in a place that is writeable by any end user. It must be impossible to ever re-set it even if you open up the phone and change out some small part.
So the number has to be set by Apple in "write once" memory before the first owner turn on his new phone. Just line a VIN on your car.
I'd report them (the police). There are several ways to prove who's phone it is, and that isn't the only issue.Oh, and you can forget about the cops doing anything about it. I used "Find My iPhone" to track it and called the police to report the location. Their response: "What do you want us to do about it? It's your word against theirs that it's stolen." That was even after I'd filed a police report.
Yeah, it's new in the US, but part of the issue is the "smart" thieves will also sell overseas.Phones are already being blacklisted.
Next month, we can have a summit with the world's automobile manufacturers to see if we can find ways for them to build cars criminals won't want to steal.
What Schneiderman should be asking is what are device owners doing to prevent theft?
People need to stop leaving their devices out and unattended where they can easily be stolen. You wouldn't leave your wallet or a wad of money out and unattended, would you? Treat the device like a wad of hundred dollar bills.
.... blaming the device makers and expecting them to try to prevent theft when it should be the owners.![]()
What we need is a kill switch that lets you electronically electrocute the person who stole your stuff. Less thieves = less theft. Just sayin'
how does that help? if you erase your iphone yer actually doing the thief a favor as its one less step they have to do to sell it.
i've read that most stolen iphones are sold for $10-20 on the street to others who then go and turn around and sell it for more on craigslist, ebay, street shops. most of these folks are young with no job or addicts.
the majority of crimes in my city are smart phone related.