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AT&T employees were bribed to install phone unlocking malware on company network

geekwire.com

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Re: AT&T employees were bribed to install phone unlocking malware on company network

#11

Post by kiallmacinnes »

> “Now he will be held accountable for the fraud and the lives he has derailed.”

Whoa there. What? Yes, he's committed a crime and should be held accountable for that. But..

Who's lives has he derailed? If I was to accept a bribe to commit a crime, nobody is derailing my life but me - to say anything else suggests a level of intelligence bordering on inability to understand and take responsibility for my actions. Can I use this defence for non bribery related crimes? How about assassin for hire?

Prosecute him for the crimes he committed and prosecute those who accepted bribes for their crimes. Theres just no reason to exaggerate like this.

Edit: And, to add, I dislike the discount / rental / lock in model the carriers use, but it does sound like crimes were committed.

Re: AT&T employees were bribed to install phone unlocking malware on company network

#12

Post by gruez »

chendragon wrote: post #3

Is this how the eBay phone unlocking services work? Usually they say something about servers and "sending your IMEI to the server" etc, and sometimes it can take a certain number of hours.

You’d think that this would be easy to crack down. All you need to do is pay for an unlock and trace where the unlock request came from.

Re: AT&T employees were bribed to install phone unlocking malware on company network

#13

Post by JRKrause »

chendragon wrote: post #3

Is this how the eBay phone unlocking services work? Usually they say something about servers and "sending your IMEI to the server" etc, and sometimes it can take a certain number of hours.

I bought an ATT locked iPhone SE from Ebay just 2 months ago. The unlocking process was essentially just going to ATT website and typing in the IMEI and they unlock it within 15 minutes for free. I assume all the "pay $10 to unlock your phone" services are just counting on the average person being too lazy to discover your can just do the legwork yourself.

Re: AT&T employees were bribed to install phone unlocking malware on company network

#14

Post by deogeo »

1.) How is unlocking a phone "malware"? Isn't the lock malware, and the unlocking serves the owner of the device? Calling it malware reeks of regurgitating AT&T propaganda.

2.) How did this "deprive AT&T of the stream of payments it was owned under the customers’ service contracts and installment plans."? A phone getting unlocked doesn't void a contract, so those customers are still on the hook.

Re: AT&T employees were bribed to install phone unlocking malware on company network

#15

Post by gowld »

kiallmacinnes wrote: post #11

> “Now he will be held accountable for the fraud and the lives he has derailed.” Whoa there. What? Yes, he's committed a crime and should be held accountable for that. But.. Who's lives has he derailed? If I was to accept a bribe to commit a crime, nobody is derailing my life but me - to say anything else suggests a level of intelligence bordering on inability to understand and take responsibility for my actions. Can…

More than one person can be at fault for a violation.

Re: AT&T employees were bribed to install phone unlocking malware on company network

#16

Post by intopieces »

jzunit wrote: post #8

His methods were illegal but can we please recognize this guy for being an ABSOLUTE HERO for unlocking all those phones and giving the people what they wanted.

Agreed, I don’t see much in the way of negativity here. It doesn’t seem like customers were defrauded, only AT&T.

Re: AT&T employees were bribed to install phone unlocking malware on company network

#17

Post by ijpoijpoihpiuoh »

deogeo wrote: post #14

1.) How is unlocking a phone "malware"? Isn't the lock malware, and the unlocking serves the owner of the device? Calling it malware reeks of regurgitating AT&T propaganda. 2.) How did this "deprive AT&T of the stream of payments it was owned under the customers’ service contracts and installment plans."? A phone getting unlocked doesn't void a contract, so those customers are still on the hook.

1. It's malware from the perspective of the entity whose computers it was installed on. To respond to your meta-point, phone locks are merely a technical control to help ensure consumers abide by their contractual obligations. At least, this is the case since companies have been obligated to offer unlocks for phones whose contracts are paid off.

2. Presumably, it's a combination of a number of mechanisms, like judgment-proof consumers or identity thieves unlocking and reselling devices.

Re: AT&T employees were bribed to install phone unlocking malware on company network

#18

Post by icedchai »

deogeo wrote: post #14

1.) How is unlocking a phone "malware"? Isn't the lock malware, and the unlocking serves the owner of the device? Calling it malware reeks of regurgitating AT&T propaganda. 2.) How did this "deprive AT&T of the stream of payments it was owned under the customers’ service contracts and installment plans."? A phone getting unlocked doesn't void a contract, so those customers are still on the hook.

It sounds like he had to install malware in the call center / AT&T remote location so he could get the unlock codes remotely. "Malware" is probably not the correct term.

Once the phone is ported to another network, the original provider is basically SOL, contract or no.

Re: AT&T employees were bribed to install phone unlocking malware on company network

#19

Post by kiallmacinnes »

gowld wrote: post #15
kiallmacinnes wrote: post #11

> “Now he will be held accountable for the fraud and the lives he has derailed.” Whoa there. What? Yes, he's committed a crime and should be held accountable for that. But.. Who's lives has he derailed? If I was to accept a bribe to commit a crime, nobody is derailing my life but me - to say anything else suggests a level of intelligence bordering on inability to understand and take responsibility for my actions. Can…

More than one person can be at fault for a violation.

Exactly.

The statement quoted makes it sound like people accepting bribes is entirely the fault of the person proposing the bribe. The blame is shared, nobody had their lives derailed by anyone but themselves as far as I can tell.

Re: AT&T employees were bribed to install phone unlocking malware on company network

#20

Post by ljf »

deogeo wrote: post #14

1.) How is unlocking a phone "malware"? Isn't the lock malware, and the unlocking serves the owner of the device? Calling it malware reeks of regurgitating AT&T propaganda. 2.) How did this "deprive AT&T of the stream of payments it was owned under the customers’ service contracts and installment plans."? A phone getting unlocked doesn't void a contract, so those customers are still on the hook.

I think the malware was installed to allow him generate unlock codes on the at&t servers, not on phones
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