Three plaintiffs filed a class-action lawsuit against AT&T in California Superior Court this week, alleging that the company acted as an accessory to theft by re-activating their stolen iPhones for the new, illegitimate owners. The suit comes as the telecom company is making moves to address smartphone theft—earlier this week, the AT&T as well as Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint announced a plan to create a national database of lost or stolen phones so that thieves could not reactivate pilfered devices.
Still, the plaintiffs think they have a case, as AT&T and other telecom companies have registered and assigned names of legitimate users to legally purchased smartphones for years, but still neglect to check with the original user when reassigning registration of the phone. And, telecom companies operate with the knowledge that users will simply buy or replace smartphones in the event of theft.
The complaint accused AT&T and any other “Doe Corporation Entities” that were “in some way legally or proximately responsible” of negligence, civil conspiracy, accessory to theft, and fraud and breach of contract, among other charges. “Plaintiffs have been told by AT&T representatives that they will not, and ‘cannot’ block and effectively kill usage of stolen cell phones by thieves and criminal organizations, however, such representations are false an fraudulent,” the suit read(PDF).
Other countries like Germany and Australia keep databases that prevent reactivation of stolen phones, which has lowered incidences of theft. In the US, electronics have recently begun to surpass cash as the most frequently stolen form of property.
from Ars Technica