Nice article, but this paragraph gave me pause:
And the cellphone carriers know where our phones are at all times, even when the phone has been erased; they can track the phone’s serial number. At the moment, however, the Verizons and AT&T’s of the world have no interest in using that information to help you recover your lost phone. Why should they? If it’s lost, you’ll buy another one.
I work at a Sprint call center, and if I get one person calling and accusing me of keeping the location of their phone away from them, I'm going to write a very angry email to Mr. Pogue.
No, we do NOT know where your phone is based on the serial number alone, but if you were smart and called us after it was lost/stolen, we can put a restriction on it so that it cannot be activated on another account. Then, if it is found or sold and the finder/buyer calls us, we recommend they turn it in at a local Sprint store where the owner can re-claim it. Why not call the owner to let them know someone found it, you ask? And walk them straight into a "Gimme my phone" confrontation?
No thanks.
Logged
Sorry about the slight OT. 
... still, it's interesting to know how things would play out if the phone was sold off. )