Text 30177, 85 rader
Skriven 2009-03-23 08:30:52 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
  Kommentar till text 30127 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
Ärende: Reactions
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Michiel van der Vlist wrote to Robert Bashe on Sunday March 22 2009 at 14:31:

MV> Oh yes, the IMEI is also transmitted during the handshake...

RB>> since in England, phones reported as stolen are blocked with their
RB>> IMEI.

MV> Yesm the IMEI can be used for identifying and blocking stolen phones.
MV> That is in the GSM specs. But it is NOT used for the normal handling
MV> of calls and therefore not "necessarily" transmitted as you stated...

So how do these two statements of yours agree? The IMEI is transmitted at least
in the handshake, which is necessary to even start a transmission. But it is
not "necessarily" transmitted? It has to be one OR the nother, not both. And in
view of the fact that stolen phones are blocked using the IMEI in England, I
would tend to stick to what I already wrote. I never wrote that the IMEI was
_continuously_ transmitted, since that's naturally unnecessary, but that wasn't
the point.

RB>>>> In some cases, it's possible to change the IMEI (but is illegal),

MV>>> It is not illegal AFAIK.

RB>> Damn sure is in Germany and (naturally) in England.

MV> Has anyone ever been convicted for changing an IMEI? If not, that law
MV> may be a dead letter.

Possibly, but we were talking about the law, not about convictions.

MV>>> With most phones it is not that hard...

RB>> Ever done it?

MV> I have seen it demonstraed. It looked simple enough. Connect the data
MV> cable to a loptop and some mouse clicks. Just as easy as removing a
MV> SIM lock.

With the proper interface and software. But you won't find many people who
actually have done it for precisely that reason. It's not like just plugging in
a USB plug and invoking some standard Windows program.

RB>> I have, several years ago with an old Nokia. Unless you have the
RB>> right software (underground) and adapter, you can forget it.

MV> Google is your friend.

How do you think I managed to find everything? And try it yourself if you think
this is so easy.

MV> Maybe some phones are bettre protected than others.

I've read somewhere there was a drive to store the IMEI in a non-writeable area
of the EEPROM, but don't know how dar along that is. The fact remains, simple
it's not.

MV> But to avoid being identified by IMEI ond can also buy a phone in a
MV> country where they are not registered. (As in The Netherlands)

Thanks for the suggestion ;-)

MV>>> ... but it is useless for the purpose of hiding one's identity as
MV>>> the SSN is used for that. The SSN can not be changed.

RB>> That's the simplest part. All you need is a SIM that is registered to
RB>> someone else. You can get such stuff in flea markets or through Ebay.
RB>> Not really legal, but it's done all the time.

MV> Yes, but that way, you also use a different phone number.

Is that a problem when you want to make an anonymous call? I wasn't talking
about normal conversations here.

MV> Here in The Netrherlands one can anonimously buy both phones and SIM
MV> cards. Fully legal, no problem. So buy a phone here. Of course you pay
MV> a lot more when you use it in Germany due to the "roaming charge
MV> scam", but a criminal would not have a problem with that I suppose...

No, but it would be easier to buy a SIM card at a flea market in Germany. Why
go to the Netherlands for that?

Cheers, Bob

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