Wheeler Wants ‘Specific, Actionable’ Solutions to Cellphone Theft

"There are solutions,” Wheeler said. “Everyone wants solutions.” Wheeler noted that the rest of the world is watching as the FCC works through the issue. There’s no question a problem exists, he said. Other officials noted at the workshop that one in three thefts today involves a cellphone. “There’s been lots of talk,” Wheeler said. “Low-hanging” fruit solutions “have been picked, it’s time to climb higher up the tree.” TAC and industry need to find an “automatic, common solution” that everyone can use to protect their mobile device, Wheeler said.

FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said for most Americans the thought of losing their cellphone is “scary,” especially because of the personal information people store on their devices. Mobile device thefts cost American consumers an estimated $2.5 billion per year and as much as $30 billion annually when the cost of lost personal and financial data and identity theft is factored in, she said. “I hope you can find ways to make anti-theft solutions simple for consumers,” Rosenworcel said. “I hope you can find ways to make them available in every device."

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., author of S-2032, the Smartphone Theft Prevention Act, told attendees the installation of a kill switch on mobile phones as the bill proposes would help. “We're never going to get to the end of the incentives to steal unless the thieves know they're basically taking a brick,” she said. Stolen devices are sold around the world, she said. Klobuchar said her constituents are concerned. “I go to a meeting about farm policy or a meeting about tax policy and the first question is about cellphone theft,” she said. “We've got an issue.”

TAC Chairman Dennis Roberson said part of the problem is that cellphone theft is very profitable for organized crime, for both post-paid and pre-paid phones. There’s a market for stolen subscriber identification module (SIM) cards, he said. “Even without the SIM card you have a great device that can be used as a camera, can be used as a game machine, can be used on Wi-Fi,” he said. Also, device theft is directly tied to identity theft, he said. “It’s a very challenging problem because of the multiple aspects,” he said. Roberson is also a professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

There’s has been a lot of discussion about kill switches and “bricking” the phone, Roberson said. “One of the things that we ought to be sure that we cover is what that really means,” he said. Wheeler’s proposed timetable for figuring out a solution is “quite aggressive” but “our chairman is quite aggressive by his very nature,” he said. The FCC will soon release a public notice asking for volunteers to work with TAC on cellphone thefts, Roberson said. Wheeler was TAC chairman before he became chairman of the FCC.

AT&T tells customers the carrier can help them if their cellphones are stolen, said Brian Daly, director-core & government/regulatory standards for the carrier. But handset theft can’t be viewed as a local, state or even national issue, he said. “This is a global issue,” he said. “Many devices that are stolen do not end up on the streets of the U.S., they end up overseas.” Daly said regulatory solutions are inflexible and carriers need to keep up with the “rogue actors” who are behind the problem.

"There’s no silver bullet solution,” said Samir Gupte, senior product manager at Lookout Mobile, which offers technology preloaded on all Android phones sold through AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile. A “multilayered approach” is key, he said. The technology the company offers helps users locate, then lock and “wipe” their phones if lost or stolen, he said.

The workshop also offered the view from public safety officials. “All law enforcement departments across the world” are encountering the same problem of cellphone theft, said Ronald Pavlik, chief of police for the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. Cellphone theft is a “crime of opportunity,” Pavlik said. “The criminals know that the police cannot be everywhere, they seek out easy targets and when the opportunity presents itself they strike,” he said. Cellphone thefts sometimes “turn violent” and “that is why we take these incidents so seriously,” he said. The first smartphone was released in 2007, and the same year his department started to statistically track the theft of electronic devices, Pavlik said. His department tabulated the thefts of 136 cellphones in 2007, but last year it investigated more than 600 snatches of cellphones and more than 200 taken during robberies, he said.