Starting July 1, smartphone providers in California will now be forced to have "Kill Switches" on all their phones, CNet reported. The software is designed to make stealing of phones pointless by allowing its owners to remotely lock the stolen phone so no one can use it. This technology is available for smartphone manufacturers Apple and Google. It is called Activation Lock and Device Protection respectively. This feature has also Google's and Apple's main selling point to ensure peace of mind for their target markets and also to discourage thieves from stealing.
This technology has been around the industry but it was not fully implemented due to various reasons. According to Electronics.com, a website dedicated to inform the public how things work in the digital and electronic world, one roadblock before was a petition made by CTIA or The Wireless Association. It is an association of international trade group that represents the wireless communication sectors including cellular, personal communication services, and enhanced specialized mobile radio. The petition made by CTIA states that the kill switch on phones might do more harm than good. They claim that the feature might be a good target for hackers that can find the kill switch message on the phone and can disable it remotely. This is a high risk for government agencies because hackers might worm their way into the smartphone's code and use it to bypass the built-in safeguards like logins and passwords that can cause huge trouble for the government.
On the other hand, since the introduction of these security feature by Apple and Google, cellphone theft incidents have dramatically dropped by a million from 3.1 million to 2.1 million from 2013 to 2014. Another thing is that CNet has interviewed a former smartphone thief about his motivation for stealing. He targeted smartphones because it is much faster and safer to commit than other crimes. But the former thief has abandoned the unlawful deed since the introduction of the kill switch feature.
The bill was sponsored by California State Senator Mark Leno and San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon.
