Prosecutors Push For Anti-Phone-Theft Kill Switches 257
New submitter EdPbllips writes "Law enforcement officials nationwide are demanding the creation of a 'kill switch' that would render smartphones inoperable after they are stolen, New York's top prosecutor said Thursday in a clear warning to the world's smartphone manufacturers. Citing statistics showing that 1 in 3 robberies nationwide involve the theft of a mobile phone, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced the formation of a coalition of law enforcement agencies devoted to stamping out what he called an 'epidemic' of smartphone robberies. 'All too often, these robberies turn violent,' said Schneiderman, who was joined at a news conference by San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon. 'There are assaults. There are murders.'"
Apple described a system like this in their presentation about iOS 7 at WWDC.
Re:Unintended uses (Score:5, Funny)
On the other hand, you could use it to nuke your own phone if the police had seized it and were using it to find evidence against you...
Yeah, right. You really believe the police won't have a kill-switch kill-switch?
Re:What a great idea! (Score:5, Funny)
I thought Windows 8 was a kill switch.