Google and Microsoft Plan Kill Switches On Smartphones

itwbennett (1594911) writes "Responding to more than a year of pressure, Google and Microsoft will follow Apple in adding an anti-theft "kill switch" to their smartphone operating systems. In New York, iPhone theft was down 19 percent in the first five months of this year. Over the same period, thefts of Samsung devices — which did not include a kill switch until one was introduced on Verizon-only models in April — rose by over 40 percent. In San Francisco, robberies of iPhones were 38 percent lower in the six months after the iOS 7 introduction versus the six months before, while in London thefts over the same period were down by 24 percent. In both cities, robberies of Samsung devices increased. 'These statistics validate what we always knew to be true, that a technological solution has the potential to end the victimization of wireless consumers everywhere,' said San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon."

Re:What about a kill switch for Google and Microso

[Anonymous Coward]

Especially Google. They're a plague on privacy :(

Re:They never answered the question...

[netsavior]

Not to mention consumer confidence. If Google/MS has consumers convinced that their phone is *safe* people will trust it with more and more stuff. It is the same reason the best antivirus out there for windows is free from microsoft, they realized consumer confidence is very very powerful.

If your phone is also your credit card and your medical records, and your financial planner, etc etc, well that is just more data for them to monetize.

Re:Are thieves that selective?

[Russ1642]

This isn't to prevent theft of the phone. It's to protect theft of the information stored on the phone, which is generally far more valuable than the phone itself.

Re:They never answered the question...

[Bogtha]

there's no way to tell if this is significant, or if it's a problem the average person is likely to run into.

I spent approximately 5-10 seconds typing phone theft statistics into Google and it led me to the Office of National Statistics [ons.gov.uk], which says that 4% of 14-24 year-olds were victims of phone theft in the 2011/12 year.

It seems pretty obvious that this is being pursued because it gives the semblance of government helping consumers while at the same time giving government one more tool they can use to control the population.

It seems pretty obvious that people carrying small, expensive gadgets around with them are a prime target for thieves, that this is a legitimate, pervasive problem, and that this solution is effective in combating this crime.