New Government Database to Track Cell Phones

[watts]

Just saw on the news that the 4 major cell phone companies are going to be making a government ID database to track users phones incase they get stolen or lost. We all know it's more to it then that.

FCC, Wireless Carriers Will Create National Database To Fight Smartphone, Tablet Thefts

The burgeoning market for stolen smart phones and tablet devices is the target of a new partnership between the FCC, law enforcement and wireless carriers, who announced today a plan to create a national database that would render the stolen devices worthless.

During the next six months, the nation's top wireless carriers will work to create databases of stolen devices. The unique identifying number on each stolen device will be entered into a database that will prevent thieves from being able to reactivate the smartphones and tablets on other carriers. The FCC expects the databases will be integrated within the next 18 months, and ultimately hopes to create an international database to quash the secondary market.

"If the industry can help dry up the demand, we will take the profit motive away from the criminals," said Christopher Guttman-McCabe, a vice president at CTIA, a wireless trade group.

A decade ago, cellular devices accounted for 8 percent of thefts in large cities. They now account for more than 40 percent of thefts, according to the FCC.

During those 10 years, what was first petty theft has since become a much larger issue, jeopardizing the personal information of users who bank, pay bills and store other sensitive data on their devices.

"We're sending a message to consumers we've got your back and a message to criminals we're cracking down on the resale market," FCC chairman Julius Genachowski said today.

The chairman said he will hold wireless carriers accountable for meeting certain benchmarks. Aside from the database, the goals will include notifying and prompting consumers of how they can lock their phones with passwords, educating consumers on how they can locate and wipe their phones using applications and measures that can be taken to deter theft.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said he hopes those measures, coupled with legislation he is introducing, "will make a stolen cellphone as worthless as an empty wallet."

The senator's legislation would make altering the unique identification numbers on cell phones a federal crime, punishable with up to five years in prison, similar to the law that was passed criminalizing the tampering of vehicle identification numbers.

"It worked for the VIN numbers and it will work for the cell phone ID numbers," Schumer said.

The wireless industry's representative, Guttman-McCabe, declined to discuss the cost to the industry. Instead, he called the move a "good corporate citizen effort" and stressed it was about "safety and security".

The CTIA will submit its first quarterly report to the FCC on June 30, 2012 and will publish updates on its website.

 

[dddaver]

WAY too many possibilities for this not to work. I might just sell my phone then report it stolen so I can sell another, then do the same thing. Profit. Although it might sound good at first glance, it is nothing more than the big carriers ploy to sell more phones and rip people off better.

 

[MIway]

good corporate citizen effort... lmfao... oxymoron to the nth

 

[Hazeo]

thanks for sharing bro, you should be definitely right...

regards
Hazeo

 

[Skip]

The real reason this is being done is so that the gov't can identify every phone call and link it to their other databases. The new NSA cyberspy unit in Utah will need that info to complete its identification and tracking processes. I think that was the missing link they needed, the phone ID database.

Of course they're not just going to have access to the id #s of stolen phones, but to ALL phones... Then they can track every transaction and call by phone id#.

It will also enable them to do all sorts of stuff once they locate your phone. They can then do anything a hacker can like read your address book, copy all data on the phone, change any data on the phone, block the phone, disable the phone, load up trojans, etc., etc.

I personally have not had a cellphone in years. Don't need it, don't want it, don't like Big Bro keeping track of everything. Not that I have anything to hide, just don't like the whole intrusion into our privacy.

On the other hand, being able to locate and get your phone back, is a good thing. But is it worth the loss of privacy to know the gov't can access and control your phone anytime it chooses?

 

[Rouge]

The most fucked up dumb-ass generation ever. Not only is Big Brother watching you with military satellites (better than Google's ones), they are already listening to your phone calls....all without warrants......now this........ The price for your security is loss of all privacy. The slide down the slippery slope of totalitarianism picks up speed!

 

[Skip]

What people have yet to realize is that this kind of technology is exactly what is being used to hunt down and kill protesters in places like Syria. The Russians have supplied the Syrians with their latest tech that allows them to defeat the stealth tech the US has given the protesters to communicate with. So the Syrians have no problem locating the communication source and destroying it with tanks, missiles or bombs.

When that technology in the hands of the state is used to repress the PEOPLE, it can be the final blow. And as you see in Syria they have succeeded in suppressing the uprising using this same technology as our gov't now has...

We can hope and pray this is never used upon us, but really, tell me one communications technology that has been developed that the US hasn't used against its people at one time or another...

Remember COINTELPRO is still operating, and there are even worse programs out there or being developed at the moment.

Big Brother is bigger and more intrusive than even Orwell dreamed.

 

[Chronage]

Big Brother is bigger and more intrusive than even Orwell dreamed.

That is for sure brother.

This crap is all quite frightening. And though we hope the tech won't be used against us it's just a matter of time you know it. That is of course, if this kinda tech isn't already being used and experimented with (you know it is). Technology has always been a greatest creation that will eventually lead to our own demise. It's reading little things like this and seeing the things I do daily from leo that make me sick. But they also open the world of philosophy for me. Perhaps an army of brilliant stoners need to collect and start the building of 420 robots. We can take over the world, and for all the kids and kid a-like parents at home, each robot will have a "fuck with the police" switch assembly.

I honestly wonder how many jobs in total we have created as stoners smoking and growing a plant? Or how many law officials have gotten that raise or upgrade in positional status they'd waited for because of a bust? I think we all deserve a freaking medal.

But seriously, that is some scary shit. I won't be surprised when the scariest data mergers of all time happen with the boys in blue.

Rabble.Rabble.Rabble.