Criterion B
Before mobile phones, people were forced to either use call boxes or public pay phones found in establishments or otherwise simply not make the call until reaching home. It is only in the last six years that mobile phones have become so widely available. With advances in technology, putting satellites in space and producing and selling mobile phones to a huge percentage of the population has become viable and thus this new form of crime, previously non-existent, has been created.
With 40 million Britons now owning a mobile, and the market becoming saturated, manufactures are striving to produce smaller, lighter, more efficient and sophisticated devices, some of which cost upwards of £500. Combine these prices with the increasing fashion ability of mobiles and stealing one may become a tempting solution.
Criterion C
The impacts of this surge in mobile phone theft are great and far reaching. People incurring costs from unauthorised calls made from their stolen mobile, and indeed the cost of replacing it, may find themselves in financial difficulties, possibly getting in to debt. If a company mobile phone is stolen, then companies, particularly small ones, may be unable to recover. People injured or distressed after the theft of their mobile may cause an increase in people being treated in hospitals putting strain on national health services. The increase in robberies causes police to spend more time on these cases rather than other cases. Also, malicious thieves have the capability to cause the rightful owner of the mobile phone to lose friends, get in to trouble with the police or even lose a job through making prank calls. Insurance companies may increase penalties on home insurance policies. The victim of the theft loses their entire list of contact numbers stored in their phone book, and also their means of being contacted by friends and family. This means they are unable to contact others or be contacted which becomes a big problem in an emergency if they are reliant on their mobile phone.
Criterion D
One of the most up to date methods of controlling mobile phone theft has been named “text bombing” and the scheme is being piloted in Holland. When a mobile phone is reported as stolen, the police program a computer to send one text message to the stolen phone every three minutes. The message reads “This phone is stolen. The Police”. One problem is that it is all too easy to remove the existing SIM (security identity module) card from the stolen phone (which gives the phone its telephone number) and replace it with a new one, thus stopping the messages being received by the hand set. This is inconvenient to the thief but they can purchase a new SIM card fairly cheaply and so still make a profit from the sale of the phone. It is hoped however that “text bombing” will scare thieves into discarding or returning the mobile or make sale of the stolen handset impossible where they are unable to replace the SIM and so ultimately act as a deterrent.
Another method is to record the unique IMEI (international mobile equipment identification) number each mobile phone is manufactured with. If a sticker is then placed on the handset informing potential thieves that this has been done, the phone may become less attractive to steal as if the phone is recovered or found, it is easy to prove who the rightful owner is. Also, police are calling for phone companies to allow customers to offer a service whereby they cut of the account of a phone when a customer passes on the IMEI number after their phone has been stolen. The problem is, some phone companies are unwilling, and so only three out of five of the major phone companies have agreed to these measures so far. A spokeswoman for BT Cellnet stated that IMEI barring is ineffective as “new IMEIs can be programmed” and the handset is still “completely usable” anyway as all IMEI barring does is “stop calls being made on the network that barred it”.
Although there are many problems arising from both of these solutions, I believe the most effective will be IMEI number barring and the use of IMEI numbers to return stolen phones to their owners. While with “text bombing” a new SIM can be quickly and cheaply installed, IMEI barring presents the thief with a larger problem to overcome and may mean victims incur fewer costs from unauthorised calls. Also, if people record their IMEIs, it makes the risk of getting caught more likely and therefore, mobile phone theft becomes very unattractive.
Criterion E
Daily Express, Rachel Baird, 9th February, 2002
, 7th January, 2002
, 30th January, 2002
Home Office Research Study: “Mobile Phone Theft”, December 2001
, 30th January, 2002
(1000 words excluding Criterion E)
