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Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Limpag: Penalize changing of IMEI
By Max Limpag
Cell Talk
THREE PROPOSALS. The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) 7 asked the public to urge the Cebu City Council to approve three proposed ordinances of Councilor Edgardo Labella that is expected to protect the interest of cell phone owners.
The three ordinances penalize: 1) pawnshops that accept mobile phones without proof of ownership; 2) cell phone dealers that don’t issue warranty to customers; and 3) anybody who unblocks cell phones that have been blocked by the NTC upon the owner’s request.
These are great pieces of proposed legislation that should be passed by the Cebu City Council.
But I think the Cebu City Council, if not the Cebu Provincial Board, should consider declaring software that changes the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) as illegal. Australia and Britain had considered in 2003 the banning of these types of software.
I don not know if they have legislated this ban.
WHY BAN IT? In most phone’s, you can get your IMEI by pressing *#06#.
The IMEI is a unique serial number that identifies your phone. The 15-digit number contains information on the origin, model and serial number of your phone.
The IMEI is also the foundation of our protection against re-activating stolen phones. In a perfect set-up, the IMEI of stolen phones are reported to the NTC and the agency blocks it using that number, rendering the unit unusable in the country.
This would have been a perfect protection if not for the ability of people to easily change their IMEI through the various cell phone shops.
There are no legal reasons to change your IMEI. When you unblock your phone by changing the IMEI, you’re either using a stolen unit or a handset that’s locked to a telecom provider because of a special promotions contract. When you avail yourself of a special promotion from a telecom network, you are legally bound to follow provisions of its contract such as being locked to the service for a set period of time.
After the lock up period, you’re supposed to be able to get an unblocking code from your telco provider so that you can switch to another provider. I don not know if this is possible in the country because I’ve never tried switching networks when I’m on a service-locked plan.
If you unblock your SIM-locked phone, chances are the shop will change its IMEI. You might get into trouble if the IMEI the technician has chosen is a valid one and gets activated.
EASIER TO IMPLEMENT. This ban would be easier to implement because you just go through the cell phone shop’s computer and check their installed software, including hidden programs, for anything that can be used to change a phone’s IMEI.
(Max Limpag maintains a blog at http://max.limpag.com. You can contact him there.)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (April 18, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here.
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