State and City Officials to Investigate Anti-Theft Practices of Cellphone Makers Following Summit

[Tech198]

You know, I often wonder why this myself.

Instead, in this day and age, we have to put up with "work-around" that doesn't always do a perfect job. Requires a server-side to operate (aka. iCloud) that needs to be set up on the phone. iCloud's good service for everything else, but for using it to track iPhones ? Nope... need a better way, since there is no guarantee that the iCloud up in this "immediate" event.

I think Apple is taking this in the wrong direction.... completely...

It should Apple's responsibility to prevent this...

Something like invalidating the serial number of the server. so attempting to login to iCloud from a phone would produce : - "Sorry. you cannot sign into Cloud, since this phone was reported stolen."

That would be a better way.

 

[ardent73]

Evil or stupid?

The only thing these morons want a kill switch on is the 1st amendment and the rest of the Bill of Rights.

But just on the rare case they actually have good intentions, maybe they should watch the 1981 James Bond film, For Your Eyes Only and ask themselves why don't all cars have self-destruct security systems?

If you don't know about Enfour's anti-piracy system blowing up...

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/11/ios-apps-hijack-twitter-accounts-post-false-confessions-of-piracy/

 

[pooprscooper]

Or...A diamond ring which disappears when you break up...

If only it were true.

 

[Tinmania]

And how does being more careful with expensive items not prevent this? I don't go around holding diamonds over my head, and when I'm taking a bus after dark I don't check the time using my iPhone. My point was that this kill switch would only serve to help with crimes that we can already prevent. The ones we can't prevent by being careful, robbery at gunpoint or similar, can't be stopped by being careful OR by a kill switch.

I admittedly did not realize how "targeted" iPhones were. Of course I'm reading that with a large grain of salt, as one dude does not constitute the teachings of crime 101. What percentage of stolen phones are due to targeted crimes? Until that statistic is known I'm not sure why we should institute new laws for manufacturers to follow.

I remember one of my first lessons as a kid. I left a favorite toy of mine in a public place on accident. I went back later with my father to get my toy, only to find that it wasn't there any more. My father sat me down and said "Let this be a lesson, a lesson to get an education, then someday you can run for office and mandate kill switches in toys that cause them to melt into a puddles if ever left in public".

It's not one person saying this. There are plenty of sources that will confirm iPhones and other high-end smartphones/tablets are targeted. Why do you think this thread even exists? The AGs in NYC and SF have certainly noticed the trend.

Moreover, while I certainly agree that it is unwise to mindlessly use a smartphone in an area where these kinds of snatch-and-grabs, I do not agree with the forgotten toy analogy. I think we have a moral if not legal obligation to return a lost item that we find. If someone morally-challenged finds it I want all the ammo I can get to render it useless (note I wrote **I**... I want to be the one who controls disabling it).




Michael

 

[Gamoe]

What? So now government officials are "investigating" manufacturers for not implementing a feature they esteem *should* exist in such products? Never mind that this is not even law. And let's get real here- since when has it been in government's interest to eliminate crime? There is more to this than meets the eye. Perhaps its a play at more control over people's cell phones.

At the very least, its totally inappropriate to investigate companies over something which is neither illegal nor even tragic (yes, losing a phone seems "tragic", but it isn't, and there a lot of things which are a heck of a lot more important).

Why not take the time to investigate the continual abuses of police power occurring in poorer neighborhoods, including the harassment, shootings and killings of innocents which go unchecked and unpunished under the color of "the law"? Give me a break!