Will 2 degrees be implementing a shared imei blacklist to prevent stolen / blocked phones being used?

Forums › 2degrees (including Slingshot, Orcon, Flip, Stuff Fibre, MyRepublic, 2talk and Vocus) › Will 2 degrees be implementing a shared imei blacklist to prevent stolen / blocked phones being used?

dolsen

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#93337 18-Nov-2011 11:42

As per the topic, does 2 degrees have any plans to work with Telecom and Vodafone to block the usage of blacklisted imei phones on their network? Having an operator that you can continue to use a stolen / blacklisted phone on means there is still value in stolen phones. Vodafone and Telecom have shared their database of blocked phones, it would be good if 2 degrees also blocked these phones as well. Sure, there would probably be a lot of angry people whose phones stop working, but, it would be a good thing I think.

SaltyNZ

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#546822 18-Nov-2011 11:46

Future plans are not something we're prepared to discuss on Geekzone, sorry. Nor would be specific security aspects of the service.

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These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.

Skolink

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#546850 18-Nov-2011 12:28

I would prefer 2Degrees (and other telcos) did not block/blacklist stolen phones. I would much prefer the theives dob themselves in by using my stolen phone to phone their friends. If someone has bought the stolen phone, I'm sure they would cooperate with Police by providing details of whom they bought it from (or face charges of receiving stolen goods).

keewee01

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#546947 18-Nov-2011 15:31

Skolink: I would prefer 2Degrees (and other telcos) did not block/blacklist stolen phones. I would much prefer the theives dob themselves in by using my stolen phone to phone their friends. If someone has bought the stolen phone, I'm sure they would cooperate with Police by providing details of whom they bought it from (or face charges of receiving stolen goods).

SpookyAwol

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#546967 18-Nov-2011 15:54

Huh? Im a little lost. How do they dob themselves in by phoning friends?

imei's need to be blocked as numbers can be changed. It needs to be more widely publicized that phones can and will be blocked as telcos and technology permit. Otherwise your expensive phone is always going to be the target of someone with little or no scruples.

quickymart

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#546979 18-Nov-2011 16:07

My car got stolen last year but I don't recall the thieves ever dobbing themselves in then? That would have been quite handy though.

eXDee

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#547064 18-Nov-2011 20:56

Skolink: I would prefer 2Degrees (and other telcos) did not block/blacklist stolen phones. I would much prefer the theives dob themselves in by using my stolen phone to phone their friends. If someone has bought the stolen phone, I'm sure they would cooperate with Police by providing details of whom they bought it from (or face charges of receiving stolen goods).

If you don't want it blocked, then don't get it blocked. The only way that you'll get information from a stolen device is from something that you've put on it, eg software for smartphones that tracks this information. The police and the telco would never tell you what sim is in what phone, without a search warrant.

Every time this topic comes up, its usually ignored. It appears 2Degrees is not interested in a blacklist at this stage. It'd probably take some silly scaremongering media article about it for it to be implemented (if its not on the plans already).

alasta

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#547065 18-Nov-2011 20:57

I can understand Salty's comments around commercial sensitivity, but I hope something is in the pipeline. Whilst there may be legitimate technical barriers preventing blacklist sharing thus far it still comes across as lazy and apathetic that there doesn't appear to be any resolution in sight.

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Wade

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#547069 18-Nov-2011 21:12

TBH, as an ignorant consumer it concerns me that 2D are not all over this, first thoughts are they want the underworlds revenue more so than a social conscience, surely its not that simple either way i cant see the security risk in discussing this from a 2D perspective unless nothing is happening?

eXDee

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#547101 18-Nov-2011 22:27

Wade: TBH, as an ignorant consumer it concerns me that 2D are not all over this, first thoughts are they want the underworlds revenue more so than a social conscience, surely its not that simple either way i cant see the security risk in discussing this from a 2D perspective unless nothing is happening?

It'll be a technical thing i'm guessing, suggesting that they are after revenue from the 'underworld' is the exact type of media scaremongering that i mentioned in the previous post.

codyc1515

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#547112 18-Nov-2011 23:18

eXDee:
Skolink: I would prefer 2Degrees (and other telcos) did not block/blacklist stolen phones. I would much prefer the theives dob themselves in by using my stolen phone to phone their friends. If someone has bought the stolen phone, I'm sure they would cooperate with Police by providing details of whom they bought it from (or face charges of receiving stolen goods).

If you don't want it blocked, then don't get it blocked. The only way that you'll get information from a stolen device is from something that you've put on it, eg software for smartphones that tracks this information. The police and the telco would never tell you what sim is in what phone, without a search warrant.

Every time this topic comes up, its usually ignored. It appears 2Degrees is not interested in a blacklist at this stage. It'd probably take some silly scaremongering media article about it for it to be implemented (if its not on the plans already).

I think its fairly obvious the decisions to be taken revenue wise, maybe someone should take this to the Commerce Commission or similar? That would get them moving.

NonprayingMantis

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#547180 19-Nov-2011 10:15

didn't we have a tv1 tech reporter on here the other day asking for good stories. this seems like it might be something that people will read, and if it forces 2D to implement blacklisting will provide a good outcome for everyone. (apart from criminals)

NonprayingMantis

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#553881 5-Dec-2011 09:44

saw this article yesterday. seems relevant

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericsavitz/2011/12/03/how-carriers-could-thwart-mobile-phone-thieves-but-dont/

summary: shared blacklists provide little benefit to the carrier, so they don't bother, and uses Australia as an exmaple of where shared blacklists work well.

according to the article:

"The story notes that since Australia adopted this system, the number of stolen mobile phones have dropped dramatically. Since 2004, the number of phones in the country have jumped to 26 million from 15 million ? but the number of stolen phones is down 25%."

SaltyNZ

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#553895 5-Dec-2011 09:57

NonprayingMantis: saw this article yesterday. seems relevant

Yeah, some of it is.

according to the article:

"The story notes that since Australia adopted this system, the number of stolen mobile phones have dropped dramatically. Since 2004, the number of phones in the country have jumped to 26 million from 15 million ? but the number of stolen phones is down 25%."

But that's not; I upgraded Telstra's EIR to the Y2K version, and it was already in planning when I started that job in 1998 (live in 1999, from memory). So quoting statistics about falling phone thefts since 2004 is pretty meaningless.

I'm sure there's a lot more to it than the fact that the Australian carriers have EIRs.

iPad Pro 11" + iPhone 15 Pro Max + 2degrees 4tw!

These comments are my own and do not represent the opinions of 2degrees.