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Could someone with relevant industry insight comment as to why we're not just using IMEI blacklists? From Wikipedia: "For example, if a mobile phone is stolen,

by parley 12y ago

Could someone with relevant industry insight comment as to why we're not just using IMEI blacklists? From Wikipedia: "For example, if a mobile phone is stolen, the owner can call his or her network provider and instruct them to "blacklist" the phone using its IMEI number." Is it because it's actually mutable/not properly authenticated? Or because global blacklist synchronization isn't good enough and not all operators respect them?

hobs 12y ago
As far as I can tell, it is because they are either lazy or the systems are not exposed to the underlings you can actually call most of the time. I worked closely with carriers and they would resist any attempt for you to do anything in their system and insist it wasnt possible unless you had the cops or the legal system behind you.
tzs 12y ago
> Could someone with relevant industry insight comment as to why we're not just using IMEI blacklists? They generally don't work across national boundaries. A large fraction of the market for phones stolen from California is overseas.
buyx 12y ago
The IMEI blacklists don't work across borders. My sister in law's Blackberry was stolen from her at a mall in South Africa. It was reported and added to the IMEI blacklist. A few months later I accidentally added her old PIN as a BBM contact and ended up chatting to a chap in Nigeria. It isn't farfetched to assume that network providers don't really care about stolen phones in the third world. Until they do, IMEI blacklists won't mean much.
- tzs 12y ago
  > It isn't farfetched to assume that network providers don't really care about stolen phones in the third world. Network providers probably don't care about stolen phones in the first world. If they could find a way to ignore domestic IMEI blacklists without too much public outcry, they probably would. In the US, the top four carriers make almost $8 billion per year selling theft insurance to their customers [1]. I don't have a cite handy, but I recall reading that they also make a huge amount selling replacement phones to people whose phones were stolen. Samsung planned to do a kill switch on its phones to fight theft a while ago, and the carriers blocked it. Many believe they blocked it to protect those insurance and replacement phone profits. [1] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/20/iphone-kill-switch_n_4308924.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/20/iphone-kill-switch_...
- gadders 12y ago
  Sometimes IMEI blacklists mean too much. There was a batch of cheap Chinese counterfeit phones in Bangladesh (IIRC) that all had the same IMEI. One got stolen, the IMEI got blocked, and all of that make of phone was unusable. Background info here: http://www.moremag.pk/2012/11/08/3-million-mobile-phones-in-pakistan-are-having-same-imei-number/ http://www.moremag.pk/2012/11/08/3-million-mobile-phones-in-...
gadders 12y ago
As well as the below, you can also get software (now illegal in the UK [1] ) to change your IMEI on your phone. [1] http://www.staffordshire.police.uk/info_advice/crime_prevention/immobilise/reprogramming/ http://www.staffordshire.police.uk/info_advice/crime_prevent...

by parley 12y ago

hobs 12y ago

As far as I can tell, it is because they are either lazy or the systems are not exposed to the underlings you can actually call most of the time. I worked closely with carriers and they would resist any attempt for you to do anything in their system and insist it wasnt possible unless you had the cops or the legal system behind you.

tzs 12y ago

> Could someone with relevant industry insight comment as to why we're not just using IMEI blacklists? They generally don't work across national boundaries. A large fraction of the market for phones stolen from California is overseas.

buyx 12y ago

The IMEI blacklists don't work across borders. My sister in law's Blackberry was stolen from her at a mall in South Africa. It was reported and added to the IMEI blacklist. A few months later I accidentally added her old PIN as a BBM contact and ended up chatting to a chap in Nigeria. It isn't farfetched to assume that network providers don't really care about stolen phones in the third world. Until they do, IMEI blacklists won't mean much.

tzs 12y ago
> It isn't farfetched to assume that network providers don't really care about stolen phones in the third world. Network providers probably don't care about stolen phones in the first world. If they could find a way to ignore domestic IMEI blacklists without too much public outcry, they probably would. In the US, the top four carriers make almost $8 billion per year selling theft insurance to their customers [1]. I don't have a cite handy, but I recall reading that they also make a huge amount selling replacement phones to people whose phones were stolen. Samsung planned to do a kill switch on its phones to fight theft a while ago, and the carriers blocked it. Many believe they blocked it to protect those insurance and replacement phone profits. [1] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/20/iphone-kill-switch_n_4308924.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/20/iphone-kill-switch_...
gadders 12y ago
Sometimes IMEI blacklists mean too much. There was a batch of cheap Chinese counterfeit phones in Bangladesh (IIRC) that all had the same IMEI. One got stolen, the IMEI got blocked, and all of that make of phone was unusable. Background info here: http://www.moremag.pk/2012/11/08/3-million-mobile-phones-in-pakistan-are-having-same-imei-number/ http://www.moremag.pk/2012/11/08/3-million-mobile-phones-in-...

gadders 12y ago

As well as the below, you can also get software (now illegal in the UK [1] ) to change your IMEI on your phone. [1] http://www.staffordshire.police.uk/info_advice/crime_prevention/immobilise/reprogramming/ http://www.staffordshire.police.uk/info_advice/crime_prevent...