AT&T to launch stolen phone database

Phone theft victims will be able to disable voice, data, SMS

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Lose your smartphone? It happens to the best of us, but a new AT&T service allegedly set to debut on Tuesday is going to make life fairly difficult for anyone who picks up the device you lost - especially if they swiped it.

According to recent reports, an anonymous but allegedly reliable source at AT&T maintains that a new AT&T stolen phone repository - launching Tuesday - will allow customers to kill the voice, data, and text messaging on any device they've reported as stolen.

Instead of just issuing a full SIM block or otherwise forcing a phone theft victim to cancel his or her account and subscribe anew, AT&T will merely add the device to alleged "block list."

Presumably, AT&T will use the phone's IMEI, or International Mobile Equipment Identity, to match the block with a unique device regardless of whatever SIM card gets used with the phone.

Block listed

Should the device eventually turn up, the owner will only need to contact AT&T to have the phone removed from the company's blocking service.

One kicker, warns AT&T in a leaked memo, is that smartphone owners will need to perform any remote-wipe features they might have on their phones (or installed via a third-party app) before contacting AT&T to issue the block.

Additionally, it appears that users will in fact have to speak directly to a customer service representative at AT&T to issue or release the stole phone blocking service – there's no automated way to do this or some little "block/unblock" button that an owner can hit within their profile on AT&T's website.

While The Verge's source says that AT&T won't keep a centralized directory of "blocked" devices, it remains to be seen just how the process would work otherwise – stolen phones have to be matched to users somehow.