UK Firm To Release 'Screaming' Cell Phone

rubberbando writes "Yahoo news is running a story about a plan by a UK cell phone company to help reduce cell theft. Apparently, this new cell phone can be sent a signal after its owner has realized that it has been lost or stolen. The signal tells the phone to wipe all of its data and begin emitting a very loud and obnoxious sound. The sound will only stop if the battery runs out or is removed, but it will begin again as soon as the battery is replaced or charged. Even replacing the sim card will not help."

Brilliant application of 'planned obsolecence'

It sounds from the description that these phones will become functionally useless once you do this to them. What a fun prank to pull on your friends!

Re:Brilliant application of 'planned obsolecence'

Even better, imagine what will happen if their system is less than secure. Try and think about the damage a script kiddie could do if he got ahold of a list of people's passwords and phone numbers.

Or, even worse, if he found out how to send the signal to the phones sans password - after all, if the company is lazy, then maybe all they'd do is dial up the cell phone and send a general purpose "kill" signal. Figure out how to tell the cellphone that it's stolen while still in the possession of its owner, and you can make somebody very, very mad.

Re:Brilliant application of 'planned obsolecence'

The kill signal will probably be in the format of a special (Operator) SMS text message. Much in the same way your Internet settings can be sent by your provider over the air (OTA) to your phone.

However, I had an app a while back that could 'build' Operator SMS messages and send them out to peoples phones, so yeah, unless the Operator takes serious steps to secure this system, it's gonna be hacked in no time. Once hacked, the concept will be useless, and the manufacturers will stop including the kill-system in the firmware...

-Jar.

loud and obnoxious

And I thought cell phones were already loud and obnoxious...

Re:

No, its just the people that use them

So basically...

There's a hardware GUID. Whoopdy-do; if there's a remote method to turn it on via software, there's a method to turn it off via software.

Re:So basically...

Not necessarily. If it writes an "I'm disabled" flag to some place in the onboard NOR flash, and the loader reads this to decide whether to proceed with a boot or not, you'd have to rewrite the loader or the NOR flash in order to turn it off. Pulling all the power wouldn't help since the flash is designed to hold data when the power is out.

If you have the tools to rewrite the NOR flash, then you can indeed turn off the alarm with software. The software will be external to the phone and will have to use some hardware connection to it, though.

Re:

Depends what you mean by "activity." If the phone is on, it can be tracked.

Re:

Hi,

> Also, a pay as you go SIM card normally isn't linked to an identity.

It is very much linked to an identity when the phone spends 6-8 hours per day in the same house and spends workdays at same place of business.

If you carry a cellphone for any lengt

Obnoxious?

The thing I don't get is how exactly they expect this to be any more loud and obnoxious than all these damn ringtones are already!

Another deep thought...

If cell phones could scream, would we be so cavalier about smashing them on the ground? We might, if they screamed all the time for no good reason.

i can only wait

The signal tell the phone to wipe all of its data and begin emitting a very loud and obnoxious sound.

Isn't this what happens if Paris Hilton calls you?

As Hammurabi said, a blown-up face for a phone.

"We also then set a small bomb off, if you like, that completely wipes the data...

As well as the ear and most of the face of the thief? Seems a little harsh.

Re:As Hammurabi said, a blown-up face for a phone.

As well as the ear and most of the face of the thief? Seems a little harsh.

/insert standard Sony laptop battery joke here/

Actually it reminded me of something I was talking about just yesterday, a funny scene from the BBC series from the 1980s, 'The New Statesman'. The main star (Rik Mayall) is held up at knifepoint, and quickly hands over his wallet when it's demanded. The theif runs off, at which point the star smiles, pulls out a little remote from his breast pocket, flips a switch and presses the red button. You hear an explosion and a scream in the distance. Great stuff!

Who cares if the phone becomes unusable

I would prefer if the phone could silently send me a usage report so that I could track who stole it and kick him in the a....

IMEI, Re:Who cares if the phone becomes unusable

Actually, if your phone is GSM, then you can already do that.
First and foremost, you must write down your IMEI number [wikipedia.org]. Simply type *#06# into your cell phone. It may look like: AA-BBBBBB-CCCCCC-D . That is the serial number of the phone, and it will not change if the SIM is changed. Write it down into a safe place.
When your phone is stolen, report that number to the police. They will report it to the providers, that will lock down the cell phone [gsmworld.com] for good; moreover, if the phone is ever turned on, they may be able to track the thief whereabouts, using standard cell tecnology; that, and an identikit, may actually help them arrest the thief.
A friend of mine, (who is in IT business) did all of the above, and she really had the thief arrested and prosecuted.

awesome!

First and foremost, you must write down your IMEI number. Simply type *#06# into your cell phone. It may look like: AA-BBBBBB-CCCCCC-D . That is the serial number of the phone, and it will not change if the SIM is changed. Write it down into a safe place.

Excellent! I am writing the number down right now in the memo pad application on my cell phone!

It makes me think of...

Screaming Jay Hawkins... "I put a spell on you, cause you're mine."

How long till...

How long will it be until something like this is implemented to "punish" those that are late on paying their bill or for people who decide they want to switch service providers?

Who do the police arrest?

So someone stole a phone, and now it is making a very loud unpleasant noise. So they have dumped it near my house and it is still making the noice and I am very annoyed. So I hit it with a brick until it stops.

Question: who gets taken to court? The phone manufacturer, for creating a noise nuisance? Or the thief, for stealing the phone? Or me, for damaging someone else's property?

I know the answer: it will be me, won't it?

Re:Who do the police arrest?

The brick manufacturer for making an unsafe product.

Too late!

This isn't innovation! Anyone that lives in the UK will know that not only was this done yonks ago [wikipedia.org], but it even made it into the Top of the Pops [crazyfroghits.com] when it came out.

Re:

But as anybody can locate a SIM in the cell to which it transmits, sensible thieves replace SIMs anyway.

Re:

in the Netherlands ... would require the thief to change the SIM card, which would make his action less than free (gratis).

Well, they used the IMEI [wikipedia.org] number of the phone that is tied to the hardware, although someone with the rights skills might be able to

Re:

The Dept. of Homeland Security called.

They want their paranoia back.