[shortcake27]

I’m highly dubious of anyone claiming this reduces crime.

Things being easy to steal and sell aren’t the _cause_ of crime, they’re a symptom. If someone has felt the need to resort to a life of crime for whatever reason, how is lowering their “salary” (so to speak) going to reduce crime? Surely they now need to steal more phones to make up the difference? I guess you could argue they might commit a different crime instead?

[musictubes]

https://www.imore.com/iphone-theft-drops-40-san-francisco-25...

Activation lock made a huge difference. The next step to talking profits out of stolen iPhones is to make harvesting parts difficult.

I absolutely give Apple the benefit of the doubt when it comes to I this. Back in the bad old days iPhone theft was incredibly common and that has come down a lot over the years.

[flanked-evergl]

> The next step to talking profits out of stolen iPhones is to make harvesting parts difficult.

I would 100% buy this if you showed me data that indicates that part harvesting is behind most of the remaining theft of iPhones, which it very well may be, but if we have the data we would not have to guess.

[stouset]

FFS, what else do you think people are stealing them for? To make abstract art? Kleptomania? To stop the 5G towers from giving them COVID?

People steal stuff because they can use it or because they can turn around and sell it. If they can’t do either, they eventually stop stealing those things.

[baq]

I’m buying this right now, this is how a lot of car theft works also - parts are a good source of cash.

[mschuster91]

Especially catalytic converters. Can be stolen from an unprotected (i.e. no massive baseplate) car in below 30 seconds, and nets you about 1000$ a piece from junkyards willing to ignore the sawzall marks.

[1] https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/watch-catalytic-converte...

[phi0]

Few people would choose a life of crime as a hobby, or if it wasn't paying much better than an average entry-level office job, so it's not like someone decides to resort to crime and then later considers the financial aspects. Most get into it because of the quick money.

To use a hyperbolic example, if the median profit for stealing a phone would suddenly drop to $10, where their only value are the easily extractable raw materials, a 20-fold increase in theft would be less likely then a rapid drop in theft.

Currently there are avenues to remove iCloud lock, where licensed repair shops or Apple employees remove them for some extra cash [1], so the value of stolen iPhones is greater than the raw materials, making it attractive. But with higher regulation, that could change.

[1]: https://www.vice.com/en/article/jgmygb/checkm8-info-remove-i...

[riversflow]

It’s not that it reduces crime overall, it’s that it reduces a specific, very inconvenient crime to be the victim of. Having your phone stolen, especially on vacation, is significantly worse than many other sorts of theft.

[flanked-evergl]

And yet people still have their iPhone 14s stolen while on holiday.

[stouset]

And people still die of infection despite the existence of antibiotics. Crazy, right?

Please tell me you understand that reducing the value of an iPhone on the black market will reduce incidence of theft even if it doesn’t eliminate it entirely.

[ChadNauseam]

Maybe people resort to a life of crime because it makes them money and they like money, not because they have no other option. People readily accept that rich people do morally wrong things (like exploit their employees etc) for more money. So why assume that the only reason people in general would do morally wrong things is because they need to to feed their family?

[autoexec]

> So why assume that the only reason people in general would do morally wrong things is because they need to to feed their family?

I don't think anyone has ever made that claim, but people do tend to do what's easy/convenient and it's a lot easier and more convenient to put in 8 hours in a safe climate-controlled office where you get medical benefits and a salary you can depend on than it is to go out every night mugging people or trying to pick pockets, then trying to figure out how to sell your stolen goods, all without getting killed, robbed yourself, or caught by police.

Most people need to make money somehow and nobody is picking the most dangerous, risky, effort intensive means to make that money when they have other options readily available.

The harder it is for someone to make money doing anything other than commit crimes the more likely they will be to commit crime and for some people (those with few resources, and addictions and/or past criminal records for example) it can be very very hard to get and maintain legitimate employment.

[stouset]

Because most pickpockets and phone thieves probably aren’t making the equivalent of an office salary.

[midoridensha]

Most of the people in that line of work wouldn't be able to get and hold an office job.

[stouset]

That’s kind of the point.

[mcphage]

> Surely they now need to steal more phones to make up the difference?

Not necessarily. If they can't make enough money from stealing iPhones, they may quit and go into management.