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Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Limpag: Stolen cell phones
By Max Limpag
Cell talk
VICTIM. The pervasive problem on cell phone snatching hogged the headlines again last week when 19-year-old Zachary Escudero was killed by two cell phone snatchers.
Zachary, a relative of Rep. Francis Escudero, put up a fight when the suspects tried to snatch his phone. He was shot and killed by one of the suspects.
The relative ease in selling stolen cell phones and the fact that stolen units can still be used even if the owners have them blocked contributes to unabated increase in reported incidents of cell phone theft.
BLOCKING STOLEN UNITS. The National Telecommunications Commission advises owners to report the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers of stolen phones so thatthis can be included in its blacklist database and the phone could no longer be used.
The IMEI, according to Wikipedia, “is a unique number associated with every GSM and UMTS mobile phone. It is usually found printed on or underneath the phone’s battery and can also be found by dialing the sequence *#06# into thephone.”
“The IMEI number is used by the GSM network to identify valid devices and, therefore, can be used to stop a stolen phone from accessing the network. For example, if a mobile phone is stolen, the owner can call his or her network provider and instruct them to “bar” the phone using its IMEI number. This renders the phone useless, regardless of whether the phone’s SIM is changed.”
That’s the theory.
CHANGING IMEI. In practice, the ease by which software can change a phone’s IMEI number renders this protection obsolete. Many cell phone repair shops have software to change these numbers as part of their “unblocking” service.
They use this for cell phone users who may want to change networks but are locked in because of service plans.
Unfortunately, this makes it easy for thieves to reactivate stolen phones because they can just try out one IMEI number after another.
I know of at least one country, England, if my memory still serves me right, that has moved to declare this type of software illegal.
There’s no valid or even legal reason to change your phone’s IMEI.
Declaring the software illegal and cracking down on shops that change this number through so-called unblocking services would help a lot in addressing the country’s massive problem on cell phone theft.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (January 24, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
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