NYC and San Francisco Officials Will Meet with Phone Makers Over Thefts

Posted by at 11:16 am on June 6, 2013

cellphone_lockOfficials from the cities of New York and San Francisco announced that they plan to meet with leading makers of smartphones later this month to discuss how to curb cell phone thefts.

According to San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon, 1.6 million cell phones are stolen each year from Americans. The city officials will meet with Apple, Google, Samsung, and Microsoft on June 13, when they intend to enlist the companies’ help by asking them to devise ways to quickly deactivate stolen devices so they will no longer work. U.S. network operators have already created a registry of stolen cell phones together with the Federal Communications Commission that is used to prevent them from accessing network services.

Last month, New York Senator Charles Schumer reintroduced a bill that would make it illegal for people to alter the IMEI or other identifying numbers of devices. All these steps have been taken in an effort to reduce thefts and robberies of cell phones by drying up the secondary market for the stolen goods.

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