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Federal Bill Would Mandate Anti-Theft 'Kill Switch' in All Smartphones
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Yes... it does... followed by those with an imprint of their ankles permanently embedded in their palms.
You are right. I just went to the junkie thief forum on the interwebs and they were discussing how disappointed they were about this legislation. They are totally concerned about the risk to profit ratios being so far out of whack and decided to stop grabbing phones to sell for drugs based off of these laws alone.
Honestly all joking aside I hope you are right. I just lack the faith in the intelligence of people willing to steal my stuff in the first place.
Stupid. How about people just act responsibly and not lose their friggin phones?
Even responsible owners are at risk of having their property stolen.
Now that devices running ios7 are less profitable stolen, crooks are going to have to steal twice as many phones to make their quota
But this time
. the Federal Government wants to be the only ones who have access to the kill switch.
I mean its not like there is a huge financial bubble going on or massive unemployment problem to focus on.
With the exception of a couple of large cities in the US, iPhone theft is a crime of opportunity. The thief doesn't leave the house thinking he will steal a phone but at the bar or at lunch you put your phone in front of you, turn away for a second and it is gone. Those thefts aren't by gangs or druggies (unless that is who you hang with).
A lock, kill switch will over time slow this drastically.
A lock, kill switch will over time slow this drastically.
Well, after reading the article I'm disappointed.
I was hoping that I'd be able press a big red button and actually kill the person that holding my phone at that particular moment.
Sigh. Maybe someday...
I was hoping that I'd be able press a big red button and actually kill the person that holding my phone at that particular moment.
Sigh. Maybe someday...
The death penalty does not stop murder, so that law should get canned too ?
The real reason why the industry is against it, it will impact on sales of new phones. Fewer stolen phones means fewer replacements needed. This is particularly true of high end phones.
's and oranges my friend.Pretty sure that grand theft is already a crime so in this case there is already a penalty for the theft of a mobile device. A kill switch on a phone won't increase the penalty for stealing the phone nor stop a determined thief that doesn't know anything about the kill switch legislation. It won't track down the thief so you can get your phone back. You will still have to buy a new device.
Should it be mandatory for a kill switch to be on every automobile sold? Cars are stolen all the time right? Will it stop a car from being parted out even if a kill switch was in place?
Yes, I would say so. But I'll leave that to another forum.
I have no idea what "the industry" is against or if they are just ignoring the problem because it isn't currently considered there's. However, I find a more likely reason having to do with contracts already set up with 3rd patty companies who sell warranty-style replacement plans. I find it baffling how much it costs to replace a phone using these services...
I can back legislation that implements this. It's kind of like in the original Robocop where the person who tries to steal a car is electrocuted in the drivers seat. "I'll buy that for a dollar!"
I'm surprised the legislation doesn't mandate the phone notify the government every time I purchase a 20 ounce soda.
false report problem?
What's to prevent false theft reports, perhaps using stolen identity data? Phone bill stolen out of grandma's mailbox, etc. Brick random peoples expensive phones for fun.
Will a trip back to the AT&T/Verizon/Apple store allow grandma to get her phone fixed?
What's to prevent false theft reports, perhaps using stolen identity data? Phone bill stolen out of grandma's mailbox, etc. Brick random peoples expensive phones for fun.
Will a trip back to the AT&T/Verizon/Apple store allow grandma to get her phone fixed?
Just have the clerk put it in a brown paper bag before they sell it to you... Besides, you should already have your camera and mic covered with a piece of non sequitur anyways...
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Considering the amount of effort required to do all that, high chance for error, little benefit, and ease of recovery (verify with iCloud), I would say "a lot".
They actually probably wouldn't do anything with the phone that you bought with your own money since it would likely be difficult to implement this with anything but sale of new phones.
You should know that there's hundreds of mandates already on your phone, many of which I doubt you were aware of when you bought it.
That'll be in v2.0.
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Ha! If the government is mandating it, it's because *THEY* want to have the ability to kill anyone's phone at will. Anyone who thinks that the government passes laws for any reason other than their own personal benefit is naive.