Kill switch to be available in 2015
Posted by: Timothy Weaver on 04/16/2014 05:45 AM
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The mobile industry, facing mounting pressure from politicians and police to tackle an epidemic of smartphone and tablet thefts, will voluntarily offer software that can remotely disable and wipe phones.
California State Senator Mark Leno said: “The wireless industry today has taken an incremental yet inadequate step to address the epidemic of smartphone theft.”
In San Francisco, thefts of smartphones and tablets account for more than half of all street robberies.
Triggered by the user, the kill switch would lock a phone so that it can’t be reused or reprogrammed.
San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon and New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a joint statement: “We strongly urge CTIA and its members to make their anti-theft features enabled by default on all devices, rather than relying on consumers to opt-in. The industry also has a responsibility to protect its consumers now and not wait until next year.”
Those opting in include AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular and Verizon. Others include Apple, Google, HTC, Huawei, Motorola, Microsoft, Nokia, Samsung and Asurion.
California State Senator Mark Leno said: “The wireless industry today has taken an incremental yet inadequate step to address the epidemic of smartphone theft.”
In San Francisco, thefts of smartphones and tablets account for more than half of all street robberies.
Triggered by the user, the kill switch would lock a phone so that it can’t be reused or reprogrammed.
San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon and New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a joint statement: “We strongly urge CTIA and its members to make their anti-theft features enabled by default on all devices, rather than relying on consumers to opt-in. The industry also has a responsibility to protect its consumers now and not wait until next year.”
Those opting in include AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular and Verizon. Others include Apple, Google, HTC, Huawei, Motorola, Microsoft, Nokia, Samsung and Asurion.
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