Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has introduced a new set of rules it says will “protect consumers against scams that aim to commandeer their cell phone accounts,” it announced on Tuesday. FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel says the new rules will maintain citizens’ “well-established freedom to pick their preferred device and provider.”
Under the proposed regulations, wireless providers would be required “to adopt secure methods of authenticating a customer” when they swap SIM cards to a new device or port their phone number over to another carrier. They would also have to notify customers when a SIM change or port-out request is initiated and do other things to protect customers from phone hijacking fraud.
The FCC said it was l…