Senator Charles Schumer of New York has reintroduced the Mobile Device Theft Deterrence Act. The bill was first proposed a year ago, but was never acted upon by congress.
The act would make it a federal crime to alter or change the unique device identification or IMEI number of a wireless device. Together with the Federal Communications Commission, U.S. wireless network operators last year created a database of stolen device IDs. The database is used by the network operators to deny voice and data services to stolen devices registered on the list.
The impetus behind the database and the Mobile Device Theft Deterrence Act is to make it difficult or impossible to activate stolen devices on wireless networks, which reduces the resale value of stolen phones and curbs the theft of mobile devices.
