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Originally Posted by tt C6
No offense, but please post proof or I call bull$hit.
No government employee is going to prosecute someone for doing it with a phone they own legally and that they use on a line that they legitimately pay every month.
The law was passed for stealing service. We all buy these phones. We all pay our bills. There is no crime. No one is being prosecuted.
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Just because the law has been passed for that purpose does not mean it is not the case..
but if you insist...
Quote:
Cellular fraud is defined as the unauthorized use, tampering, or manipulation of a cellular phone or service. Cellular industry estimates indicate that carriers lose millions per year to cellular fraud, with the principal cause being subscription fraud. Subscriber fraud occurs when a subscriber signs up for service with fraudulently obtained customer information or false identification.
In the past, cloning of cellular phones was a major concern. A cloned cellular telephone is one that has been reprogrammed to transmit the electronic serial number (ESN) and telephone number (MIN) belonging to another (legitimate) cellular telephone. Unscrupulous persons obtain valid ESN/MIN combinations by illegally monitoring the transmissions from the cellular telephones of legitimate subscribers. Each cellular telephone is supposed to have a unique factory-set ESN. After cloning, however, because both cellular telephones have the same ESN/MIN combination, cellular systems cannot distinguish the cloned cellular telephone from the legitimate one.
The Commission considers any knowing use of cellular telephone with an altered ESN to be a violation of the Communications Act (Section 301) and alteration of the ESN in a cellular telephone to be assisting in such violation. The Wireless Telephone Protection Act (Public Law 105-172) was signed into law on April 24, 1998, expanding the prior law to criminalize the use, possession, manufacture or sale of cloning hardware or software. The cellular equipment manufacturing industry has deployed authentication systems that have proven to be a very effective countermeasure to cloning. Authentication supplements the use of the ESN and MIN with a changing encrypted code that can not be obtained by off-the-air monitoring.
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FCC: Wireless Services: Cellular Services: Operations: Fraud
So effectively..even possessing software for cloning is illegal in the USA...its kinda like possessing marijuana...even if you don't plan to use it but want to plant it as its your favorite plant your still going to jail...same for changing the ESN..you can only do so if you are licensed for it...if your not and they find you, you will go to jail...sure your sentence won't be as bad..but doesn't change the fact that you will be punished.
Oh and the government is not as logical as you think it is...I mean a person was sent to 20 years of prison simply for stealing a drink from a vending machine a few times...he was caught doing it 3 times and 3 strike rule took effect..no one cared for how silly it sounded..the law was the law..
personally..I would love to see the day we can use any phone on any network..but law is law...