Addressing the on-the-rise crime of smartphone theft, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and wireless phone industry plan to create a central database to track stolen phones and prevent them from being used again, reports The New York Times. Julius Genachowski, chairman of the FCC, will meet with police chiefs and representatives from the wireless phone industry this week to announce the plan. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) plans to draft legislation making it a federal crime to tamper with a phone's unique identifiers, which will be used to disable a phone from being used once it's reported stolen. "Our goal is to make a stolen cellphone as worthless as an empty wallet," Schumer said. (Registration may be required to access this story.)
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