Tracking a Lost Cell Phone

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.sprintpcs (More info?)

Does anybody know who this can be done?

Thanks,
Marky,Mark

Archived from groups: alt.cellular.sprintpcs (More info?)

In article <%Qgxe.5858$aA5.3479@tornado.socal.rr.com>,
mpondoff@socal.rr.com says...
> Does anybody know who this can be done?
>
> Thanks,
> Marky,Mark
>

Yes. But not by you, and not by anyone you can call. Wireless Week
recently did a story location based services (LBS) being used for law
enforcement purposes, and they mentioned Sprint's policies in a sidebar.

http://www.wirelessweek.com/article/CA604922.html

>> For Sprint, there are clear rules for releasing personal location
>> information. Under its Customer Proprietary Network Information
>> policies, Sprint will release only location information if requested
>> by a lawfully authorized court order served to its Corporate Security
>> division – a simple subpoena won't do it, according to Joe Averkamp,
>> Sprint's director of business development.
>>
>> In cases where the customer is trying to track down a stolen handset
>> or someone has filed a missing person report for a customer,
>> individuals can submit a written request for location information.
>> But Sprint also would need a police report and a request from the law
>> enforcement agency involved, and then it would release only the
>> location information to the law enforcement agency – not the
>> customer.

That's the nitty gritty of it. Customer Care CANNOT DO THIS. Ever.
Sprint still words this policy as strongly today as they did when I left
a year ago. They will not budge on this. Customer Care doesn't even
have the software to access this. And Sprint has no intention of giving
it to them. From that same story:

>> It's all designed to strike a balance between public safety and
>> individual privacy, Averkamp says. "We're not necessarily in the
>> business of giving out our customers' information," he says. "We need
>> to be contacted by the appropriate authorities with legal
>> jurisdiction and the appropriate document before we will do it. There
>> are actually only a handful that have access to [that information]."

That sounds pretty definite to me.


--
RØß
O/Siris
-+-
A thing moderately good
is not so good as it ought to be.
Moderation in temper is always a virtue,
but moderation in principle is always a vice.
+Thomas Paine, "The Rights of Man", 1792+