My brand new iPhone 5 was stolen and the guy drove away in a big black SUV. I followed the guy with Find My IPhone. When he parked and powered off my iPhone I called the Sheriff. Sheriff spoke to him and he denied having it even though I saw him take it and tracked him with my wife's iPhone. The Sheriff did not search him or the car. The Sheriff wrote a report and then promptly dropped my case a week later because I had no videotape evidence of him a a actually stealing the phone. I was very upset and the Sheriff said "You're treating this like a murder case. It's just a phone. We deal with much bigger problems." And that was that. Without videotape evidence of a phone theft the Sheriff will do nothing. They completely dismiss phone tracking.
I really wish:
1) iOS would not allow people to power off a locked phone without entering a password. This would have allowed me to use Find My iPhone to make my iphone play a sound while the sheriff was there.
2) Apple would build a remote kill switch. AT&T blocking is not enough because the same phone will work in Europe thus can be sold on eBay.
1) My nephew had his iPhone 5 stolen from his middle school gym locker during class. My brother checked for it with Find My iPhone but it didn't show up. He did the commands to lock and announce when it came back online. This occurred about an hour after school got out. He grabbed a screenshot of the location and sent it along with the physical address to the school's principle, whom he'd already been in touch with. The principle contacted the police that went to residence, retrieved the device, and arrested the kid.
2) I posted about that desire change to iOS in post 24 of this thread (as well as many other times in the past). I also included some of the hurdles involved with doing this as a frozen iDevice, as rare as it may be, still needs a way to cut the power when the display isn't being responsive.
My son had his hand me down iphone stolen, why, because he did as others here have pointed out, he left it unattended in a place which he knew someone might take it. We did use find my iphone and knew about where it was located until they removed the sim and he did figure out who took it. But the School and the Police where it happen refused to do anything about since as they point he did not witness him taking it so they could not accuse another kid of something with out a witness. We called AT&T to have the SIM disabled but AT&T refused to disable the IMEI number, why as they simple explain, there is no proof to them it was actually stolen, even with a police report since the police decide not to take any action there was nothing AT&T could do.
The flip side of this issue is you have people who sold or lost the phone and now wish to keep someone else from using it. Or a husband has fight with the wife and want her phone bricked. For ever reason to brick the phone there is reason not to.
Moral of the story, if you do not want your phone stolen, keep a close eye on it and I am not say hid it from public. I personally see lots of people leaving their phones sitting on a table or chair or in plain sight in a purse. I am sorry you asking for someone to rip you off. Face bad people live in the world so grow up and gain some street smarts.
The bad guys could immediately power down the iPhone, take it into the nearest Faraday cage, and work on it at their leisure. (See "Enemy of the State," 1998, Will Smith, Gene Hackman.)
One way to counter that is to implement a timeout that will begin if the phone hasn't connected to a cell network after some interval. It would force the user to enter their passcode, then brick the phone if they don't. And it would continue to count even after a hard reset and wipe. (I'm sure Apple has worked out something like that, since the government is supposedly considering using iPhones for "high security uses.")
Or a small tactical nuke, maybe? Don't have your Bluetooth ring next to it, countdown starts... after two hours it goes nuclear.
No, wrong analogy. Example: two thefts in 2011, all left handed, one in 2012, right handed. Without the left handed thefts, there is an increase in thefts.
What rubbish. It's called personal responsibility. I suppose that ALL manufacturers need to step up and prevent thefts... watches, jewellery, TVs, cars.. /s Carriers and telcos could prevent activation of stolen phones by registering all IMEI numbers and blocking ones reported stolen or hacked numbers. But they don't - you figure out why.
As far as Apple dropping the ball, stop trolling and go back to your Samsung shift.
"Apple has dropped the ball on this" is a load of rubbish indeed!!
But the very sad part is that this guy is probably not even getting paid for his troubles.
Hopefully they don't, since it has nothing to do with them.
It has to do with their consumers though. Are you seriously suggesting that Apple should make a point of not offering a feature that would be a big value-add for their users to make a political point against the NYT?
There is something wrong in your head when you take your defence of Apple to such absurd depths.
Huh? Did you miss this in the article?
"<span style="color:rgb(24,24,24);font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;line-height:18px;">Currently, a number of antitheft technologies exist, allowing mobile device owners to track stolen smartphones and tablets. Early last year, AT&T </span>
<a href="http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/07/06/new_att_system_will_allow_users_to_block_stolen_devices_from_use" style="border:0px;font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;line-height:18px;" target="_blank">rolled out a new system</a>
<span style="color:rgb(24,24,24);font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;line-height:18px;">that blocked stolen iPhones from network access. Also, Apple's Find My Phone feature uses iCloud to </span>
<a href="http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/09/27/abc-news-uses-icloud-to-track-a-stolen-ipad-to-tsa-officers-home" style="border:0px;font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;line-height:18px;" target="_blank">track stolen iOS devices</a>
<span style="color:rgb(24,24,24);font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;line-height:18px;">, which has resulted in some notable busts."</span>
Tell me which smartphone does more?
Sure the article mentions ISM hacks but let's be honest, the average smartphone thief is looking to make a quick buck to support their drug habit so it's highly unlikely they would know how, or care to spend the time to perform such hacks. Blocking stolen phones from connecting to the networks (as has been universally done in Canada), combined with people not being complete effing idiots and realizing that if the dude on the corner is selling them an iPhone for a "too good to be true" price because IT IS, will likely cease thefts altogether.
It won't, in most cases if it is a drug addict, they'll be looking for a quick buck and sell the iPhone cheaply, they probably already know where to go to sell it and that person will know how to bypass antitheft methods.
Are you seriously suggesting that Apple should make a point of not offering a feature that would be a big value-add for their users to make a political point against the NYT?
I'm suggesting adding a feature for the sole purpose of a deemed necessity of its inclusion. The premise of the article is crap.
I'm suggesting adding a feature for the sole purpose of a deemed necessity of its inclusion. The premise of the article is crap.
The sole purpose of a deemed necessity of a convoluted sentence? Nonsense.
The article is an article, who gives a carp about its premise? It'd be a useful feature for many people and would give Apple another selling point above and beyond the competition. Focus on that, not on pumped up ire for the NYT.
If Apple are smart they'll take ideas from wherever they spring from, not be stubbornly reactionary.
There is absolutely no doubt that the Apple iPhone is the most secure smartphone on the market today especially where physical access is considered.
Rot. Apple have a reputation for not playing well with carriers and the police in standardised responses and registers of stolen phones. And how is it more secure where physical access is concerned? You're just making stuff up, right?
I am not a techie, so I have no clue. But there has to be something better than "all hope is lost if the thieves erase the IMEI."
For example, is GPS tracking an option (assuming that the loss is reported to the police).
Privacy issues. If tracking was on by default and no way to turn it off, people would complain (most of the same people that are complaining about Apple not doing enough to prevent stolen iPhones here). This is a case of where a company can not do the right thing because there is no real way for that to happen. The best they can do is provide options but it is still up to the consumer to use those options as they see fit (and not complain because they chose the wrong one at the time).
Comments
1) My nephew had his iPhone 5 stolen from his middle school gym locker during class. My brother checked for it with Find My iPhone but it didn't show up. He did the commands to lock and announce when it came back online. This occurred about an hour after school got out. He grabbed a screenshot of the location and sent it along with the physical address to the school's principle, whom he'd already been in touch with. The principle contacted the police that went to residence, retrieved the device, and arrested the kid.
2) I posted about that desire change to iOS in post 24 of this thread (as well as many other times in the past). I also included some of the hurdles involved with doing this as a frozen iDevice, as rare as it may be, still needs a way to cut the power when the display isn't being responsive.
Besides, why should Apple do the job of the police force?
You can go to the Police and say "hey, look, my Apple hardware is here right on apple maps" and they'll gladly ignore it.
The flip side of this issue is you have people who sold or lost the phone and now wish to keep someone else from using it. Or a husband has fight with the wife and want her phone bricked. For ever reason to brick the phone there is reason not to.
Moral of the story, if you do not want your phone stolen, keep a close eye on it and I am not say hid it from public. I personally see lots of people leaving their phones sitting on a table or chair or in plain sight in a purse. I am sorry you asking for someone to rip you off. Face bad people live in the world so grow up and gain some street smarts.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SockRolid
The bad guys could immediately power down the iPhone, take it into the nearest Faraday cage, and work on it at their leisure. (See "Enemy of the State," 1998, Will Smith, Gene Hackman.)
One way to counter that is to implement a timeout that will begin if the phone hasn't connected to a cell network after some interval. It would force the user to enter their passcode, then brick the phone if they don't. And it would continue to count even after a hard reset and wipe. (I'm sure Apple has worked out something like that, since the government is supposedly considering using iPhones for "high security uses.")
Or a small tactical nuke, maybe? Don't have your Bluetooth ring next to it, countdown starts... after two hours it goes nuclear.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Retrogusto
Ha! Yeah, I've known Rose well for years, and she's sweet but she could probably benefit from a change of behavior. I'm not joking.
Great, you just made her a target ^^
Quote:
Originally Posted by jd_in_sb
Great analogy!
No, wrong analogy. Example: two thefts in 2011, all left handed, one in 2012, right handed. Without the left handed thefts, there is an increase in thefts.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
Interesting how you jump to claiming it's the VICTIM'S fault, particularly when I said absolutely nothing of the sort.
Perhaps take your own advice.
Are you kidding? So in an article about preventing crime your solution is to emphasize the personal responsibility of the criminal?
Yeah, that's going to accomplish anything.
Either that isn't what you meant at all and you're backpedalling, or you're off your head nuts. Evens.
Originally Posted by tomjava
Hopefully, Apple has something on iOS7 to resolve this annoying theft issue.
Hopefully they don't, since it has nothing to do with them.
Originally Posted by See Flat
It's your stuff, be vigilant
I think the argument is "No, do it for me."
Quote:
Originally Posted by TeeJay2012
"Apple has dropped the ball on this"
What rubbish. It's called personal responsibility. I suppose that ALL manufacturers need to step up and prevent thefts... watches, jewellery, TVs, cars.. /s Carriers and telcos could prevent activation of stolen phones by registering all IMEI numbers and blocking ones reported stolen or hacked numbers. But they don't - you figure out why.
As far as Apple dropping the ball, stop trolling and go back to your Samsung shift.
"Apple has dropped the ball on this" is a load of rubbish indeed!!
But the very sad part is that this guy is probably not even getting paid for his troubles.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
Hopefully they don't, since it has nothing to do with them.
It has to do with their consumers though. Are you seriously suggesting that Apple should make a point of not offering a feature that would be a big value-add for their users to make a political point against the NYT?
There is something wrong in your head when you take your defence of Apple to such absurd depths.
It won't, in most cases if it is a drug addict, they'll be looking for a quick buck and sell the iPhone cheaply, they probably already know where to go to sell it and that person will know how to bypass antitheft methods.
Simple answer is an iPhone protective case that has a Samsung logo prominently painted on it.
Since when did it become Apple's responsibility to deal with theft?
Here's a radical idea. How about we place the blame on the people who steal the iPhones?
Originally Posted by Crowley
Are you seriously suggesting that Apple should make a point of not offering a feature that would be a big value-add for their users to make a political point against the NYT?
I'm suggesting adding a feature for the sole purpose of a deemed necessity of its inclusion. The premise of the article is crap.
There is absolutely no doubt that the Apple iPhone is the most secure smartphone on the market today especially where physical access is considered.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
I'm suggesting adding a feature for the sole purpose of a deemed necessity of its inclusion. The premise of the article is crap.
The sole purpose of a deemed necessity of a convoluted sentence? Nonsense.
The article is an article, who gives a carp about its premise? It'd be a useful feature for many people and would give Apple another selling point above and beyond the competition. Focus on that, not on pumped up ire for the NYT.
If Apple are smart they'll take ideas from wherever they spring from, not be stubbornly reactionary.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MacBook Pro
There is absolutely no doubt that the Apple iPhone is the most secure smartphone on the market today especially where physical access is considered.
Rot. Apple have a reputation for not playing well with carriers and the police in standardised responses and registers of stolen phones. And how is it more secure where physical access is concerned? You're just making stuff up, right?
Quote:
Originally Posted by anantksundaram
I am not a techie, so I have no clue. But there has to be something better than "all hope is lost if the thieves erase the IMEI."
For example, is GPS tracking an option (assuming that the loss is reported to the police).
Privacy issues. If tracking was on by default and no way to turn it off, people would complain (most of the same people that are complaining about Apple not doing enough to prevent stolen iPhones here). This is a case of where a company can not do the right thing because there is no real way for that to happen. The best they can do is provide options but it is still up to the consumer to use those options as they see fit (and not complain because they chose the wrong one at the time).
Originally Posted by Crowley
The article is an article, who gives a carp about its premise?
Tautology doesn't excuse putting the blame on Apple for something that is their problem.