The US Federal Communications Commission announced today that all four major cellphone carriers in the country have agreed to deny cell and data service to stolen phones and will contribute the serial numbers of those phones to a national database in an urge to stop growing “phone theft” epidemic in the country. Without cellular or data service, phones would certainly become a less valuable target for thieves. The official announcement will take place tomorrow only than we will be able to see the grasp that what is exactly cooking on. Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and The New York Times each have their own part of story from their own official and unofficial sources before the official announcement. Better, let’s have a look what these publications have to speak:
- Bloomberg: Companies have agreed to begin blocking devices within six months, according to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski
- USA Today: Senator Chuck Schumer proposed a bill that should make it illegal to circumvent the database
- The Wall Street Journal: Since SIM cards can be changed out, carriers may need to check a device’s unique identifier against the database to determine if a phone is stolen and Regional carriers may join the program within that two-year timespan
- Each individual cellular carrier will build its own database over the next six months, and then the four separate databases will be joined within the following year and a half
- Carriers have also agreed to educate their customers about securing their personal data
