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, Interesting)
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...
Re:What a great idea! (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:What a great idea! (Score:5, Interesting)
"I'm sure that with everything we've learned recently regarding the Government and phones, there's no way this could -possibly- be abused!"
I agree with the sarcasm. Kill switches are a horrible idea. And completely unnecessary.
For example, have a look at The Prey Project [preyproject.com]. This is a good example of a secure means by which an OWNER can track, and even get screenshots and camera shots from, a stolen device.
Why "kill" a device when you stand a good chance of getting it back? Killing it does nobody any good, and has lots of quite horrible abuse potential.