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EDITORIAL: An about-face on stolen cellphonesApr 12, 2012 (Daily Camera - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Last week, the Boulder police reported a pretty brazen alleged crime: According to police, a man walked into the Best Buy store on 30th Street during mid-day, picked up three cellphones still in their boxes, and walked out without paying for them. As alleged cellphone thefts go, it was pretty benign, since no one was hurt. Alarmed at the sheer number of cellphone thefts, and reports of violent robberies -- sometimes extremely vicious -- police in many communities had asked for an industry solution. According to the Associated Press, officials say that cellphones are now taken in 38 percent of robberies in Washington, and more than 40 percent of robberies in New York City involve phones. In Denver, police statistics show that about 22 cellphones are stolen every day in the city. Specifically, the carriers -- such as Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon -- were asked by police and cities to create a database of the unique identification numbers of stolen phones so that they won't be reprogrammed with another telephone number or account. Essentially, each would become a "brick," or a useless phone. At the end of March, NBC news reported that about 70 law enforcement agencies -- including the Denver Police Department -- sent a letter to federal regulators asking for just a database. The immediate public response was very tepid: Sprint said it was open to discussion, but the other carriers were dismissive. First, they said it won't work unless service providers around the world would join in. And it's certainly probable that some stolen phones wind up in foreign countries -- but the United Kingdom and Australia do have such laws for their domestic carriers, and authorities have reported that it's working to chip away at the black market for phones. Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., was among those calling on the providers, and ultimately the Federal Communications Commission, to stop reactivating phones that had been stolen. Reactivating stolen phones is so simple, but something that benefits no one but the carriers, which continue to get paid, and a thriving black market, at the cost of public safety. In a rather rapid about-face, the FCC and the largest carriers this week announced they had reached a deal to create a blacklist for phones reported stolen. It will start with individual lists from each of the largest carriers within six months, with a goal of having one database with all carriers within 18 months. For it to impact public safety, the carriers will have to be active participants, volunteering their stolen ID numbers to the database. Regulators would do well to keep on top of the carriers to make sure they are participating. -- Erika Stutzman, for the Camera editorial board ___ (c)2012 the Daily Camera (Boulder, Colo.) Visit the Daily Camera (Boulder, Colo.) at www.dailycamera.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |