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AT&T, Verizon team up with FCC to address stolen mobile phones

To address the growing number of mobile phones that are being stolen and quickly resold, several wireless carriers, including AT&T and Verizon, have committed to building a database that will enable them to quickly disable a phone after it has been stolen.

The issue is about more than property theft as smartphones are increasingly used to store a wealth of personal and private information, putting users? privacy at risk when these devices are stolen. The new initiative comes in the wake of growing pressure from the Federal Communications Commission, other regulators and privacy advocates on the mobile industry to address a variety of different privacy concerns.

?As handsets become smarter, they store an increasing amount of consumers? private and personal data, such as finances, email and photos,? said Alex Spektor, senior analyst of global wireless practices at Strategy Analytics, Newton, MA. ?The impact of such data falling into the wrong hands could range from inconvenience to devastation.

?Better tracking of stolen devices could help to discourage theft and facilitate the retrieval of consumers? handsets,? he said.

Disabling stolen phones
The plan unveiled yesterday by the FCC calls for the creation of a database that will enable wireless carriers to track phones that are reported as lost or stolen and deny them voice and data service.

The involved parties hope to address an increase in the theft of mobile phones, which are quickly resold in fencing operations. By making it difficult to use a stolen devices, the goal is to reduce mobile phone thefts.

The FCC worked with the wireless industry to develop the program. Initially, wireless carriers including AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon and Sprint ? who cover 90 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers ? will be involved in building and maintaining the database.

A similar system has existed in Britain and Australia for years.

CTIA-The Wireless Association and the participating wireless companies have made several commitments, including that wireless providers will develop databases for both GSM smartphones and LTE smartphones. The GSM database is scheduled to be implemented by Oct. 31 2012 while the LTE one not until Nov. 30 2013.

Additionally, wireless carriers will inform customers about how to find and use applications enabling them to lock, locate and wipe smartphones remotely.

By April 30, smarpthone makers are expected to implement a system to notify news users, upon activation of a new device, of how they can set a password and secure their phones from unauthorized access.

The wireless industry is also expected to introduce a public service announcement on the safe use of smarpthones by July 1.

The initiative includes additional education programs with several different deadlines over the coming months.

Meeting the deadline
The FCC said it will launch a proceeding if progress on these moves by the industry falls behind schedule.

The initiative announced yesterday also includes plans for Congress to introduce legislation that will make it a federal crime to take steps to thwart the stolen phone database by, for example, tampering with hardware identifiers on wireless devices.

While the moves are an important step toward addressing privacy concerns in mobile, the building of the database could raise its own privacy issues if not handled correctly.

?The parties involved will need to be careful as to which specific data points are stored in the database to prevent too much of consumers? info from ending up in one place,? Mr. Spektor said.