The cellphone industry -- including both carriers and phone makers -- is turning a blind eye toward the problem of smartphone theft, to its own benefit, a New York Times piece claims. The paper for instance quotes Cathy Lanier, the chief of police for the District of Columbia. "The carriers are not innocent in this whole game. They are making profit off this," she argues. In 2012, the DC area witnessed a record 1,829 phones being stolen.
