US officials call on Apple, Google, others to help stop smartphone theft
Smartphone thefts are on the rise, and now a number of government officials from both New York and San Francisco are calling for a meeting with Apple, Google, and other mobile leaders to try to get them to do something about it.
On Wednesday, San Francisco District Attorney George Gasc?n and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced that they will convene a Smartphone Summit next week wherein they will attempt to convince the largest players in the smartphone industry that they need to do something to head off violent crimes involving mobile devices. The meeting will take place on June 13 at Schneiderman's office in New York City.
"With 1.6 million Americans falling victim to smartphone theft in 2012, this has become a national epidemic," said Gascon. "Unlike other types of crimes, smartphone theft can be eradicated with a simple technological solution.
The two state attorneys will ask Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Samsung to begin designing their phones and operating systems so that they contain a "kill switch," the ability to remotely render a phone inoperable. Such an addition, the attorneys hold, would make smartphone theft a moot point, since any device would become useless once reported stolen.
Gasc?n has previously met with representatives from Apple in order to convince the iPhone maker to add more anti-theft measures to its bestselling smartphone. Apple devices can be tracked using the Find My iPhone feature, and similar features exist for Windows and Android handsets. Still, thefts of iPhone products alone caused an overall increase in the crime rate in New York City in 2012.
Between January 1 and September 23 of last year, thefts of Apple products in New York City were up 40 percent. Apple product theft accounted for 14 percent of major crime in New York City.
In San Francisco last year, roughly half of all robberies involved a mobile communication device.
Currently, carriers like AT&T block stolen iPhones from accessing their networks, but critics say this is an incomplete solution. Thieves, they say, can simply hack the International Mobile Station Equipment Identity of a phone in order to erase it and render it unidentifiable to any stolen phone tracking databases.
All four companies have agreed to attend the summit next week. Schneiderman hopes the meeting will lead to real advances in protecting smartphone owners.
"The theft of handheld devices is the fastest-growing street crime, and increasingly, incidents are turning violent," said Schneiderman. "It?s time for manufacturers to be as innovative in solving this problem as they have been in designing devices that have reshaped how we live."
On Wednesday, San Francisco District Attorney George Gasc?n and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced that they will convene a Smartphone Summit next week wherein they will attempt to convince the largest players in the smartphone industry that they need to do something to head off violent crimes involving mobile devices. The meeting will take place on June 13 at Schneiderman's office in New York City.
"With 1.6 million Americans falling victim to smartphone theft in 2012, this has become a national epidemic," said Gascon. "Unlike other types of crimes, smartphone theft can be eradicated with a simple technological solution.
The two state attorneys will ask Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Samsung to begin designing their phones and operating systems so that they contain a "kill switch," the ability to remotely render a phone inoperable. Such an addition, the attorneys hold, would make smartphone theft a moot point, since any device would become useless once reported stolen.
Gasc?n has previously met with representatives from Apple in order to convince the iPhone maker to add more anti-theft measures to its bestselling smartphone. Apple devices can be tracked using the Find My iPhone feature, and similar features exist for Windows and Android handsets. Still, thefts of iPhone products alone caused an overall increase in the crime rate in New York City in 2012.
Between January 1 and September 23 of last year, thefts of Apple products in New York City were up 40 percent. Apple product theft accounted for 14 percent of major crime in New York City.
In San Francisco last year, roughly half of all robberies involved a mobile communication device.
Currently, carriers like AT&T block stolen iPhones from accessing their networks, but critics say this is an incomplete solution. Thieves, they say, can simply hack the International Mobile Station Equipment Identity of a phone in order to erase it and render it unidentifiable to any stolen phone tracking databases.
All four companies have agreed to attend the summit next week. Schneiderman hopes the meeting will lead to real advances in protecting smartphone owners.
"The theft of handheld devices is the fastest-growing street crime, and increasingly, incidents are turning violent," said Schneiderman. "It?s time for manufacturers to be as innovative in solving this problem as they have been in designing devices that have reshaped how we live."
Comments
"Whoa, déjà vu…"
Government is too altruistic to concern itself with the (un)intended consequences...
If it were so simple I think it would have already been done.
Maybe Mr. Gascan can provide us a simple technological solution to cancer and war next.
If it were easy, Apple would have already done it (and Android would have copied it).
Or a potato chip bag.
Biometric authentication? Make the carriers do device authentication via serial number or IMEI numbers. This way you can't steal it and just put a new sim card in it....You could wipe the phone but it will still retain the IMEI number. If the carriers make it part of the activation process then it will not let the stolen phone get activated once it gets reported stolen.
How about fancy shoe thefts? How about pickpocketing? How about identity theft? How about dollar devaluation, which essentially robs the American people of their savings and income? (couldn't resist that last one)
Wouldn't yanking the SIM while powered on followed by a hard reset and put into DFU mode bypass the above? All that is needed is a paperclip.
Originally Posted by geekdad
You could wipe the phone but it will still retain the IMEI number.
So jailbreak it and change the IMEI.
Exactly, I have been saying to this to friends and family for a while. This was in response to SolipsismX, comment apparently i do not operate the comment buttons very well
It makes sense to not be able to restore a phone without asking the phone user listed on the about section in the settings.
Unless Apple or Google are the ones stealing the phones, I'm not comfortable with placing any obligations on them to stop theft.
There may be an opportunity here for either or both to create compelling new features, but they should be only that, not obligations.
I can't imagine the telcos being to jazzed with keeping track of a blacklist when activating or a customer moves a SIM from one phone into a freshly commandeered device. The secondhand market for phones is so big, anyone could sell a phone and then claim it stolen shortly after. Would be a dick move but they are everywhere.
Did you notice how these are the most liberal and crime riddled states in the union. They have policies in both states that directly promote or lead to crime so it is no surprise that they are blaming somebody else for a problem they created.
One of the most effective and proven methods of crime control is to simply kill the criminals. Try and hang em. Why this is so difficult for liberals to accept is beyond me. Certainly in a state like NY that could lead to hanging half the population of a city like New York City but it would in fact solve a lot of problems.
Even is hanging isn't good enough for them turning a blind eye to criminal activity has never resulted in a situation getting better. What the states are proposing here does nothing to get the criminal element off the street and as such doesn't help the honest population one bit. Allowing such intimidation to go forward while the state turns a blind eye to the problems they have caused is pretty disgusting actually.
Good point, which is why we also need my Virtual SIM concept put into action.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
So jailbreak it and change the IMEI.
and activate it how? The carrier has a list of IMEI numbers and what device it belongs to....
1. Phone reported stolen...by phone or online in carriers website account settings
2. The IMEI number is then listed as stolen and not allowed to be authenticated on to the carriers network.
3. All carries have to be onboard with not activating stolen IMEI numbers. Can't just flash it to another carrier.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
So jailbreak it and change the IMEI.
Jailbreaking doesn't allow you to change the IMEI of a phone. The IMEI isn't stored in a location that's writable from iOS.