Carriers, FCC Crack Down on Smartphone Theft

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and Christopher Guttman-McCabe, vice president of regulatory affairs for CTIA, were on hand today in Washington, D.C., to announce a new initiative to help curb the theft of cell phones.

Genachowski and Guttman-McCabe were joined by various law enforcement officials and Sen. Charles E. Schumer, (D-N.Y.), to announce a plan that will allow carriers to disable devices once reported stolen and make it a federal crime to tamper with an International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number, the equivalent of a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN).

Ray Kelly, commissioner of the New York Police Department, and Cathy Lanier, chief of the Washington, D.C., Police Department, rendered the scale of the problem and decried the violent nature of the assaults associated with device theft.

Charles Ramsey, commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department, likened what's happening with smartphones right now to what law enforcement officials saw back in the ’80s with Nike's Air Jordan basketball shoes, when kids were assaulted for their shoes.

“What we’re attempting to do is like draining the swamp to fight malaria,” Ramsey said.

There are a number of facets to the initiative. Wireless carriers, in conjunction with law enforcement, CTIA and the FCC, will implement databases to prevent reactivation of stolen smartphones. By October 2012, U.S. GSM providers will implement a database so that stolen GSM smartphones will not work on any U.S. GSM network.

In addition, U.S. providers will create a common database for LTE smartphones designed to prevent smartphones that are reported stolen by consumers from being activated or provided service on any LTE network in the U.S. and on appropriate international LTE stolen mobile smartphone databases. That database will be completed by Nov. 30, 2013.

The industry also will be working to educate consumers on the problems associated with cell phone theft and privacy. Such efforts will include on-device prompts to create passwords and advertising campaigns to raise awareness about the problem.

Jim Bugel, AT&T assistant vice president of public safety and homeland security, said in a blog post that AT&T will launch a new website designed to better educate customers on how to protect their device and personal information and what to do should their device be stolen.

Genachowski said the FCC will begin meeting with law enforcement officials on a quarterly basis to discuss progress on the initiative and to get updates on any other challenges related to crime and wireless technologies.