Media Contact:                                                                                                   June 11, 2015
Neil Grace, (202) 418-0506
neil.grace@fcc.gov
For Immediate Release
FCC CHAIRMAN TOM WHEELER CHALLENGES WIRELESS INDUSTRY TO 
ADOPT THEFT-PREVENTION TECHNOLOGIES ON MOBILE PHONES
WASHINGTON, June 11, 2015 – Today, the Federal Communication Commission’s Technical 
Advisory Committee (TAC), acting through its Mobile Device Theft Prevention Working Group, 
released recommendations regarding on-device theft prevention features. To encourage a quick 
pivot from recommendations to implementation, FCC Chairman Wheeler today called on the 
wireless industry to voluntarily support the Working Group’s “opt-out” recommendation, under 
which theft-prevention features such as remote-locking and remote-data-wiping would be 
activated on all mobile phones by default and require consumers to take affirmative steps to 
disable them. 
FCC Chairman Wheeler said, “If implemented, these features will result in more consumers using 
these powerful features which, in turn, will mark a key milestone in combatting smart phone 
theft.”
The working group, comprised of representatives from key industries involved with mobile 
technologies, members of law enforcement and consumer interest organizations, recommended 
supporting mobile device theft-prevention features, including that devices include remote lock 
and wipe functionalities, as well as the ability to call 911 even when locked, all at no cost to the 
consumer. The working group’s recommendations seek to uniformly align and to more clearly 
specify theft-prevention features defined in disparate state laws and the CTIA’s own voluntary 
commitments announced in April 2014. Implementation of these recommendations would create a 
national framework for these features.  
The TAC formed the Mobile Device Theft Prevention Working Group in 2014 to develop 
industry-wide recommendations to mitigate the increasing theft of mobile devices, which has 
become a major source of crime in the United States. In April 2015, Chairman Wheeler requested 
that the TAC’s Working Group identify approaches to ensuring that more consumers use on-
device anti-theft features.  The full report of the Mobile Device Theft Prevention Working Group 
can be found here: http://transition.fcc.gov/bureaus/oet/tac/tacdocs/meeting12414/TAC-MDTP-
Report-v1.0-FINAL-TAC-version.pdf. 
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This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action.  Release of the full text of a Commission order 
constitutes official action.  See MCI v. FCC. 515 F 2d 385 (D.C. Circ 1974).