You know there is literally a 0% chance of the company that owns the phone getting it back after having it stolen from them. Having a system like this is the only reliable way of making sure people in low trust countries will pay what they bought.
So what? Don't loan out phones then. If you do, then don't lock out emergency functions. Incorporate the risk of not getting paid into the product's price or something.
In my country, if someone's life is in danger and someone else sees that, they are legally obligated to help. Failing to do that is criminal negligence. When those people are in front of a judge being asked why they didn't help, what will they answer? "Oh, I tried but the phone company locked me out." Will the judge care about the fact that the company locked them out because they owe them money? No, the judge is going to make it even more expensive for them at the very least and that's honestly a pretty generous outcome.
Failing to call for help because you don't have a phone? That's tough, a difficulty of life. Having one but being unable to because some idiot company locked you out? Yeah, that's extremely fucked up. Emergency services are rights and no company on earth gets to deny people those rights. Nobody really cares that the user didn't pay for the phone. What matters is that the phone was in the user's possession and could have saved a life had the company not locked the user out. Nobody deserves to die because of some company's entitlement.
