PGPP (Pretty Good Phone Privacy) Beta Launch • Hacker News Board

Re: PGPP (Pretty Good Phone Privacy) Beta Launch

#101

Post by throwaway67743 » Sun, Aug 14, 2022, 7:14 PM UTC

octoberfranklin wrote: post #83

NoImmatureAdHom wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IIRC changing the IMEI in the U.S. is legal. It may go against standards or something, but that's not a crime (though it would be an excuse for a carrier to kick you off their network, should they find out). I would be shocked if there were real consequences for IMEI spoofing in the U.S. absent any crime (like stealing lots of phones and changing the IMEIs).

> IIRC changing the IMEI in the U.S. is legal. This is incorrect. Changing your IMEI it is illegal in the USA under the Wireless Telephone Protection Act of 1998: "Amends the Federal criminal code to prohibit knowingly using, producing, trafficking in, having control or custody of, or possessing hardware or software knowing that it has been configured to insert or modify telecommunication identifying information asso…

Thanks for finding this, as non-US trying to find relevant laws in the mess of multiple levels of law etc is difficult, i assumed the FCC would regulate this as the telecoms regulátor but it appears not

Re: PGPP (Pretty Good Phone Privacy) Beta Launch

#102

Post by throwaway67743 » Sun, Aug 14, 2022, 7:19 PM UTC

sneak wrote: post #27

barathr wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is one of the problems with mobile -- there's isn't any one universally correct answer to this (or most questions), so I'll answer to the best of my knowledge. IMSIs are what are associated with your identity (because it's your SIM and service) in a normal mobile plan, and it's what was (is?) used by carriers when they aggregate / analyze / sell location data. IMEIs can be queried by a network core (not the towe…

> IMEIs can be queried by a network core (not the tower) and US carriers probably do this every once in a while to check against their stolen phone database. It can be changed on some devices but not others. It's not inherently tied to you as a person but of course it is tied to that device. It's also linked to the rotating IMSI, so all of the rotating IMSIs that are used at the times the IMEI is interrogated are lin…

Carriers globally check at registration time to deny stolen phones access (via various shared databases) etc, this has been the case for a long time and someone selling mobile services should know this.

Re: PGPP (Pretty Good Phone Privacy) Beta Launch

#103

Post by Handytinge » Mon, Aug 15, 2022, 5:16 AM UTC

NoImmatureAdHom wrote: post #59

throwaway67743 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you should clarify this, changing the IMEI in most countries is a criminal offence, do not keep brushing this topic off.

IIRC changing the IMEI in the U.S. is legal. It may go against standards or something, but that's not a crime (though it would be an excuse for a carrier to kick you off their network, should they find out). I would be shocked if there were real consequences for IMEI spoofing in the U.S. absent any crime (like stealing lots of phones and changing the IMEIs).

Luckily for the rest of us, the US is not "most countries", and makes up < 5% of the worlds population.

Re: PGPP (Pretty Good Phone Privacy) Beta Launch

#104

Post by octoberfranklin » Thu, Aug 18, 2022, 9:10 AM UTC

NoImmatureAdHom wrote: post #97

octoberfranklin wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because it doesn't matter: none of the big three tower operators in the USA authorizes you to use their telecommunications service with a fake IMEI.

Authorization by whom? I think if I'm paying my bill I have the telco's authorization. They're trying to prevent fraud that gets you free phone service here.

> I think if I'm paying my bill I have the telco's authorization.

That's nice. The courts think differently.