On Monday, the FCC, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile announced a stunningly-obvious plan to combat smartphone theft: the creation of a national database to keep track of stolen phones and to deny service on any network to a phone that’s been reported stolen by its original owner. The hope is that thieves will be discouraged from stealing if inappropriately-acquired smartphones are rendered dumb. (Details on how it would work here.)
A class action lawsuit filed in California on Tuesday, though, alleges that AT&T is liable for not doing this within its own network earlier. Hilary White, Jeff Pello and Natalie Warren have all had their iPhones stolen, and they think AT&T didn’t do enough to get them back.
AT&T has “[made] millions of dollars in improper profits, by forcing legitimate customers, such as these Plaintiffs, to buy new cell phones, and buy new cell phone plans, while the criminals who stole the phone are able to simply walk into AT&T stories and ‘re-activate’ the devices, using different, cheap, readily-available ‘SIM’ cards,” states their complaint (PDF via Courthouse News Service) which alleges violations of California consumer and business laws, including conspiracy, fraud, breach of contract, accessory to theft, and unfair trade.
The plaintiffs claim that AT&T has willfully aided and abetted the thieves because the company knows that the deprived owners will simply buy new devices. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard this complaint. When I was reporting on software to track and shame electronics-stealing thieves, I spoke with a San Francisco police officer, Marc Hinch, who runs Stolen911, a database for stolen goods. He made the point that many stolen devices, from phones to your Sony Playstation, by virtue of being connected to networks are trackable by the companies that provide them. “There’s no corporate incentive to track them or to ensure they’re returned to their owners, though,” said Hinch. “Because that person is just going to buy a new device, resulting in more sales.”
Plaintiffs White and co. say that AT&T should have used their phones’ unique International Mobile Equipment Identity numbers to thwart the thieves who tried to reuse them. The complaint is short on technological details, likely because the lawyers who filed the complaint, R. Parker White and Steven McHugh, are personal injury lawyers. Which may raise some questions about the legitimacy of this suit, depending on how you feel about personal injury attorneys.
“Plaintiffs have been told by AT&T representatives that they will not, and ‘cannot,’ block and effectively kill usage of such stolen cell phones by thieves and criminal organization, however, such representations are false and fraudulent,” states the complaint. It’s unclear whether that statement is based on the FCC’s announcement Monday.
AT&T doesn’t think much of the lawsuit. “The suit itself is without merit, but criminals stealing smartphones is a serious issue, which is why earlier this week we joined with law enforcement, the FCC and other wireless carriers to announce additional steps to provide a comprehensive industry and government response to the problem of wireless device theft,” says a spokesperson for the company.
A class action lawsuit filed in California on Tuesday, though, alleges that AT&T is liable for not doing this within its own network earlier. Hilary White, Jeff Pello and Natalie Warren have all had their iPhones stolen, and they think AT&T didn’t do enough to get them back.
AT&T has “[made] millions of dollars in improper profits, by forcing legitimate customers, such as these Plaintiffs, to buy new cell phones, and buy new cell phone plans, while the criminals who stole the phone are able to simply walk into AT&T stories and ‘re-activate’ the devices, using different, cheap, readily-available ‘SIM’ cards,” states their complaint (PDF via Courthouse News Service) which alleges violations of California consumer and business laws, including conspiracy, fraud, breach of contract, accessory to theft, and unfair trade.
The plaintiffs claim that AT&T has willfully aided and abetted the thieves because the company knows that the deprived owners will simply buy new devices. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard this complaint. When I was reporting on software to track and shame electronics-stealing thieves, I spoke with a San Francisco police officer, Marc Hinch, who runs Stolen911, a database for stolen goods. He made the point that many stolen devices, from phones to your Sony Playstation, by virtue of being connected to networks are trackable by the companies that provide them. “There’s no corporate incentive to track them or to ensure they’re returned to their owners, though,” said Hinch. “Because that person is just going to buy a new device, resulting in more sales.”
Plaintiffs White and co. say that AT&T should have used their phones’ unique International Mobile Equipment Identity numbers to thwart the thieves who tried to reuse them. The complaint is short on technological details, likely because the lawyers who filed the complaint, R. Parker White and Steven McHugh, are personal injury lawyers. Which may raise some questions about the legitimacy of this suit, depending on how you feel about personal injury attorneys.
“Plaintiffs have been told by AT&T representatives that they will not, and ‘cannot,’ block and effectively kill usage of such stolen cell phones by thieves and criminal organization, however, such representations are false and fraudulent,” states the complaint. It’s unclear whether that statement is based on the FCC’s announcement Monday.
AT&T doesn’t think much of the lawsuit. “The suit itself is without merit, but criminals stealing smartphones is a serious issue, which is why earlier this week we joined with law enforcement, the FCC and other wireless carriers to announce additional steps to provide a comprehensive industry and government response to the problem of wireless device theft,” says a spokesperson for the company.
No comments:
Post a Comment