Table 1 Problems and solutions
From: Preventing phone theft and robbery: the need for government action and international coordination
| Problem | Proposed solution |
|---|---|
| A. Lack of coverage | |
| International IMEI database unused | Concept: International bodies and agencies promote national-level blacklisting |
| How: Governments encourage national networks. United Nations promotes international treaty obligations. Monitoring and publicity. | |
| National EIR unused or partially used | Concept: Promote blacklisting by networks. |
| How: Incentives and regulation by government, monitoring and enforcement of adherence. | |
| B. Stolen phones remain unblacklisted | |
| Theft unreported to network. | Concept: Encourage reporting. |
| How: Incentivise victim reporting via insurers; Require police communication to phone networks; Regulate networks and incentivise call takers to solicit information from callers. | |
| Theft reported but IMEI unknown to victim. | Concept: Networks can identify IMEIs. |
| How: Regulate networks; Networks incentivise call takers to identify IMEIs and blacklist them. | |
| IMEI not blacklisted by network. | Concept: Require blacklisting. |
| How: Regulate networks to require blacklisting; Phone theft index; Monitoring (e.g. secret shopper surveys), publicity and fines. | |
| C. Reprogramming | |
| Handset reprogramming | Make reprogramming illegal. Incentivise design-solutions by phone industry. Policing tactics. |
| Duplicate IMEIs allow stolen phones to work | Networks should blacklist duplicate IMEIs. |
| D. Kill-switches | |
| Kill-switches potentially vulnerable to reprogramming and other hacking | Requires government to liaise with industry to anticipate and design-out problem |
| E. Stolen goods markets | |
| Recycling: Stolen handsets bought by recycling firms | Regulation of recycling firms; Monitoring with publicity; Enforcement with fines. |
| High street and online secondhand goods markets | Regulation; codes of conduct; transparency and accountability of buyers and sellers. |
| F. Handset trafficking | |
| Stolen handsets shipped to markets without blacklisting | International promotion of blacklisting; Monitoring and enforcement of use of international IMEI Database. Market research to identify and target destination markets and networks. |
| Manufacturers (who lose market share) should be informed of market share lost to trafficking. | |
| G. Future developments | |
| New technologies, offender adaptations and other change may produce new incentives for theft and robbery | Anticipatory crime-proofing. |