Smartphone thefts cost consumers more than $30 million in 2012. The theft of smartphones has become a thorn in the side of both law enforcement and the phone companies that have resisted placing kill switch technology on phones. They claimed hackers might be able to activate the kill switch. Yahoo News reported that CTIA, The Wireless Association announced the Smartphone Anti-Theft Voluntary Commitment program. Companies including Apple, Samsung, Verizon Wireless, AT&T, U.S. Cellular, Sprint, and T-Mobile all agreed to provide a free pre-loaded or downloadable anti-theft software on all U.S. smartphones after July 2015. The technology will allow owners to wipe the data from the phone and prevent its re-activation if stolen or lost.
The change in the group’s position came after Samsung announced that they were going to make the technology standard on their phones. This development and the actions by some states to require the technology forced the group to change their position.
The group has agreed to make the kill switches standard on their phones. Phones with the kill switch technology will be offered at no cost to consumers. Kill switches will prevent the phone from being reactivated without the owners approval and the data would be retrievable if the owner recovers the phone.
Critics accuse the phone makers and service providers of profiting from selling replacement phones and re-activating stolen phones.
Breaking It Down
What has happened here is that one company broke ranks and decided to offer the anti-theft technology on their phone. One brick lost brought down the whole house. Telephone makers and service providers were simply too lazy or did not want to pay for the technology. No matter how much customers and law enforcement screamed for the kill technology they stuck together. That is until Samsung added the technology to its phones and the walls came tumbling down. Let’s not forget that the State of California and others were about to pass a law that required the technology on phones. The excuse the industry used was that they believed that a hacker could use the kill technology against the legitimate owner. Yeah maybe, but what they are really saying is that they are not smart enough to prevent this.
Black people of the inner city are all too familiar with this crime. Smartphones are stolen by criminals snatching them from the hands of someone on public transportation or just walking the street. Sadly its a game to some kids. The phone is usually lost forever. This has to stop and the way to do this is that the thief understands that the owner can kill the phone, forever.