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New Bill Would Make It Illegal to Circumvent Phone Registry

May 16, 2012, 3:47 PM by Eric M. Zeman

New York Senator Charles Schumer today proposed new legislation that would make it illegal to tamper with cell phones in such a way that they could bypass the new stolen phone registry. Last month, the nation's top four wireless network operators agreed to work with the Federal Communications Commission to build and maintain a database of stolen cell phones IDs. The database would be used by the network operators to deny voice and data services to stolen devices registered on the list. The impetus behind the drive to create the database is to make it difficult to use stolen phones, thereby reducing the resale value of stolen phones, and ultimately curbing the theft of mobile devices. Senator Schumer's proposal builds on the idea of the database, and would make it against the law to tamper with the unique identification number of a cell phone in order to avoid the registry of stolen devices. "As part of the effort to shut down the black market for stolen iPhones, we must make it abundantly clear to would-be thieves, if you try to alter a stolen cell phone to get around the ban, you will face severe consequences," said Schumer. The CTIA Wireless Association applauded the proposal. "We are pleased to support Senator Schumer's legislation and believe it will be an important tool in the effort to combat the theft of wireless devices. We hope Congress moves quickly to pass this important bill."

Office of Sen. Charles Schumer »

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Comments

This forum is closed.

This forum is closed.

JBlaze74

May 16, 2012, 4:56 PM

Great idea....

But how do you do it? Like any law, enforcement is not the issue. The issue is providing proof that the law has been broken. It's great to propose making something illegal, and assigning a penalty to go with it. People with the knowledge to change the identifying numbers on a device may very well also be smart enough to cover their tracks. If you cannot prove the device is stolen, how do you prove it's been tampered with?

srich27

You assume that laws like this are actually intended to fix anything and aren't just political posturing to make it look like congress actually does anything.

...

sjh

May 17, 2012, 8:29 AM

wasted activity

The person has already broke a law by stealing the phone. What real deterent is there for the person to not make the phone usable? I agree with another commentor that it sounds like a move by a politician trying to say "look, I am protecting you". I don't see anything good about this except to add to the number of overlapping laws to increase the appearance of action. Probably easier to just catch the theif and jail them for the actual crime that causes harm.

JBlaze74

True, but if the politicians in this country aren't seen proposing laws, then people might just start to wonder where the taxpayers' money is being spent. I agree that it's a futile effort used only to make it seem like they are doing their jobs.

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Versed

Well first, Chucky Schumer has never met a camera he has not liked. But on this I agree. But there are laws already about tampering with phones identification. Who's going to get burned, the guy who flashes his Sprints ESN to like VM or whathaveyou...
(continues)

loco503

Good thing they don't have that down her in SLV I buy phones from everywhere and from any one as long it is a GSM phone fix it or clean it up a little bit and resale it.
But I what I don't get is isn't better just to pay for insurance once a month...
(continues)

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