Major Players in Canada’s Wireless Industry Commit to Fighting iCrime

By: Kuljit Grewal  |   August 22nd, 2012   |   Business, Living, News, O Canada, Smartphones, Tablets

Mobile device theft is a mounting problem in Canada, prompting carriers, manufacturers and Industry Canada’s Canadian Wireless Telecommunication Association (CWTA) to ban together to eradicate the problem as Canadians become more dependent than ever on said devices.

 

Both phones and tablets have been the targets of theft particularly in large metropolises Toronto and Vancouver where the number of stolen devices has increased considerably over the past three years. Many devices are either resold on Canadian soil, or in line with an increasing trend, sold overseas in black markets in Russia, the Middle East and Africa. Devices can fetch hundreds of dollars each, making them extremely valuable to the unethical.

 

According to the Globe and Mail, the collective of companies, which includes carriers such as Quebecor Inc., Telus Corp., BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., Mobilicity, Public Mobile, SaskTel, Eastlink, and Manitoba Telecom Services Inc., have worked with device manufacturers such as Research In Motion Ltd., Motorola and Nokia as well as the CWTA are acting in response to a call of action.

 

The Canadian wireless industry as a whole has been criticized for a lack of policies, action plans and preventative measures regarding iCrime even though more than 26 million Canadian residents own smartphones or tablets.

 

Police in Toronto and Vancouver have actually requested the creation of a national registry in order to ensure that all devices can be tracked once stolen as well as ensuring that said devices can never be reactivated, rendering them useless to the people who steal them. A similar registry plan has been announced in the U.S., a project that will serve as a model for Canada.

 

Although the dollars and time required for the database will cost millions, there is little denying the importance of such information. This fact is compounded when considering more users are doing mobile banking and mobile payments with their devices while industry firms attempt to integrate even more wallet-type functionality into our phones. A database would allow for the safeguarding of personal information and devices, a worthwhile cause if there ever was one.