Hacker News Reader

Why can't that phone be bricked the moment it's reported stolen. Unable to connect to any cell tower in at least North America.

Sure, the cops might not track down someone who stole a $600 phone( which is a little absurd), and maybe some people steal them for parts. But most people intend to sell them for use. We can make them useless in the US,Canada, and Western Europe trivially.

View on HN

This would require the carriers to set up such an infrastructure -- and why would they? It would cost them money and they'd lose the revenue of replacement purchases. Also, such a system would be ripe for abuse on multiple fronts. Someone piss you off (or, more insidiously, are they a political opponent)? Impersonate them and get their phone blacklisted. This could also potentially kill the secondhand phone market, if carriers decide they're going to brick "obsolete" phones after a couple years.

I'm thinking more of some sort of service offered by manufacturers/OS developers. A la Google Device Manager.

If I can remotely wipe my phone, it won't be hard to also brick it, remotely.

Leave the carriers alone, those incompetent jacks

The IMEI can be blacklisted if it's reported stolen.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com