New York Attorney General Calls for Summit with Cellphone Makers to Combat Device Theft

[iMikeT]

I doubt anything will come of this.

 

[haruhiko]

I call the government to implement anti-theft of my hard earned money by greedy corporations.

 

[MacbookSwitcher]

I call the government to implement anti-theft of my hard earned money by greedy corporations.

I call the government to implement anti-theft of my hard earned money by the greedy government itself.

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The irony of this situation is, nothing the cell phone companies can do will be as effective in stopping these crimes as letting citizens have concealed carry permits, scientifically proven as one of the most effective tools in reducing crime. Pack a holster along with that iPhone, and the criminal thinks twice, as he does not want to get shot over a phone.

However, sadly, I doubt the mayor of these two cities will even see the link, nor consider this solution.

Instead, they will ask Apple and Google to fix the human heart and remove the root cause of crime, which is obviously the domain of the family and community, not any tech company.

 

[Verbatim Cookie]

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?

Some thefts are described in this article from The New York Times. (Everyone who has a smartphone should read it because it gives advice on what to do before and after your smartphone is stolen.)

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.

Damn, which police force was this?

Here's an article about the capture of one iPhone thief. (I found it while searching for the article above.)

 

[trrosen]

If only

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.

 

[iHEARTcartoons]

Anyone convicted of stealing an iPhone will have their right hand cutoff.

 

[617aircav]

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.

Isnt that what they do when a phone is blacklisted?

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No matter what is done, when there is opportunity, thieves will strike. Putting your phone down on a table in an open public place is an opportunity for a thief to strike. Sitting in the subway playing a game on your phone is an opportunity for a thief to strike.

 

[Patriot24]

How about a PIN to turn off? That would be amazing.

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.

 

[ChrisA]

What can realistically be done by the manufacturers?

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

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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.

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.

 

[617aircav]

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

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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.

Phones are already being blacklisted.

 

[Rajani Isa]

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.

I'd report them (the police). There are several ways to prove who's phone it is, and that isn't the only issue.

Driving off with someone part in and part out of the car? That should at least trigger an investigation of reckless endangerment. Your friend could of been injured and they could of called 911 instead of driving off. After all, they had a phone.

Phones are already being blacklisted.

Yeah, it's new in the US, but part of the issue is the "smart" thieves will also sell overseas.

 

[sputnikv]

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.

that's a fine analogy for this

 

[nia820]

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.

Not only that some iphone owners should stop flashing around their iphone on public. You are attracting the thieves more. I remember when iphone 4 first came out my co worker was carrying that thing around the building like she was a new mother. She left it somewhere and that was the end of that.

Iphone owners need to be a bit more inconspicuous. Like when iPod thefts were big people were advised to wear black ear buds instead of the white ones that came with it.

 

[infinitech]

This kind of legislation is government handholding.

The next step is "grand theft apple" and still will only be used as a deterrent to crime and never to actually make whole those wronged.

 

[Xiroteus]

What we need is a kill switch that lets you electronically electrocute the person who stole your stuff. Less thieves = less theft. Just sayin'

I was going to go with the ushock app that would knock out said thief. It just knows it's stolen.

 

[aricher]

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.

Been a long time since you posted this but I just noticed it in my notifications. Erasing your phone helps because it doesn't just erase the phone, it bricks it making it entirely worthless to the thief other than selling it for parts.