Letter to Meredith Attwell Baker, President and Ceo, The Wireless Association - Continue Commitment to Preventing Cell Phone Theft

Letter

Dear Ms. Attwell Baker:

Thank you for your continued attention to the issue of mobile device theft. July 1 marked the compliance date for the Smartphone Anti-Theft Voluntary Commitment as well as the implementation of the California and Minnesota laws. I appreciate your acknowledgement of this deadline and statement that the voluntary commitment is fulfilled. However, we should not turn our attention away from this issue. I urge CTIA- the Wireless Industry Association and its members to continue working on ways to combat smartphone theft.

By installing "kill switches" on smartphones we are deterring theft. The Consumer Reports National Research Center recently found that 2.1 million Americans had their phones stolen last year. While this is still a significant number, this is a 32 percent decrease from 2013. Additionally, places like New York City and San Francisco have also seen decreasing rates of stolen iPhones since Apple first began installing anti-theft protections. While I am pleased that so much progress is being made, I will continue to fight for consumers and their safety in Congress.

I applaud the partnerships between industry and law enforcement to educate consumers about how to protect themselves and their information and am encouraged by CTIA's commitment to continuing these efforts and to complying with the new laws. Additionally, I applaud the work that the FCC's Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) has done in identifying additional ways for the industry to protect consumers. I urge the industry and the Commission to act on some of the TAC's additional recommendations, including exploring option to have unique identifiers on mobile devices to help track stolen phones.

I look forward to continuing to work with the industry on this issue. I hope that you and your members will continue to educate consumers, work with law enforcement, and comply with the new state laws. Please feel free to contact my office with any updates as you continue to work on this important issue.

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