Like the SpyBlog, I was puzzled by the announcement that stolen mobile phones will be rendered useless on all networks as announced by Aunty today.
Around 80% of mobile phones will be blocked on all five UK networks within 48 hours of being reported stolen in future, industry leaders have pledged.
Um… Hang on a mo… didn’t that happen already? I mean, the technology for switching them off using the unique International Mobile Equipment Identifier has been around for long enough. It’s a simple matter and as Spyblog points out:
Why did the BBC not ask why this has not already happened ?
This was all promised back in 2002, i.e. 4 years ago, when the Home Office rammed through the useless
Mobile Telephones (Re-programming) Act 2002 which made it a criminal offence to re-programme a mobile phone handset’s International Mobile Equipment Idenifier (IMEI), and controversially, even made possession of “dual use” equipment i.e. a computer and a mobile phone serial or USB cable, a criminal offence.There is also nothing new about the UK Shared Equipment Identity Register (UKSEIR). This “new shared database set up by all UK mobile phone operators and the Global System for Mobiles Association” was also announced as being operational back in 2002
All of this has had a less than zero effect on “street crime”
Maybe I’ve slipped through a crevice in the space time continuum and it’s really 2002. Otherwise; why is this news and why has it not been happening for the past four years?