Mobile carriers led by Verizon Wireless and AT&T agreed to disable smartphones that are reported stolen to help stem an increase in device thefts.
Within six months, the companies will begin blocking stolen devices, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski said at a news conference in Washington on Tuesday. Joining him were New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Cathy Lanier, who leads the police force in Washington.
“Carriers with the push of a button will be able to take highly prized stolen instruments and turn them into worthless pieces of plastic,” Kelly said. “What we’re doing is drying up the market for stolen cellphones and other types of devices.”
Mobile-phone theft is a “growing epidemic,” with more than 40 percent of robberies in New York involving smartphones and other wireless devices, according to an FCC statement.
Carriers in the U.S. plan will go beyond deactivating SIM cards, which store a user’s account information. They will deactivate the device itself, using the phone’s unique identification number.
