Cellular Repo Man

LateNiteTV sends in news of a "kill pill" from LM Ericsson AB that a wireless carrier could use to remotely disable a subsidized netbook if the customer doesn't pay the monthly bill or cancels their credit card. "...the Swedish company that makes many of the modems that go into laptops announced Tuesday that its new modem will deal with [the nonpayment] issue by including a feature that's virtually a wireless repo man. If the carrier has the stomach to do so, it can send a signal that completely disables the computer, making it impossible to turn on. ... Laptop makers that use Ericsson modules include LG Electronics Inc., Dell Inc., Toshiba Corp., and Lenovo." The feature could also be used to lock thieves out of the data on a stolen laptop.

Comments

Rogue Wireless Carrier SysAdmin

[GPLDAN]

How much fun will it be when the wireless carrier fires Crazy Stu, the wacky UNIX sysadmin with the penchant for conspiracy theories and bad dental health.

When HR comes around to fire Stu, he leaves his timebomb in place. The one that fires out the kill message to hundreds - nay - thousands of customers - and disables their leased laptops all at once.

What a day that will be.

Re:Rogue Wireless Carrier SysAdmin

[Wrath0fb0b]

When HR comes around to fire Stu, he leaves his timebomb in place. The one that fires out the kill message to hundreds - nay - thousands of customers - and disables their leased laptops all at once.

Later that day, the company sues Stu for malicious destruction of property, lost business revenue, failure to fulfill a duty of care (remember, employees are actually expect to work for their employer, not against them). A few hours later, an injunction will issue requiring Stu to return the computer network to the state before he left pending further hearings. Stu will either comply or face escalating sanctions and then jail time until he complies with the court order (which the company is entitled to as a matter of black letter law).

The company will apologize profusely, give everyone a free week of service (maybe a month, depending on how the PR department sees this) and charge it off as a one-time freak expense. Finally, it will be posted on /. as a dupe of http://news.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/07/18/2349242.

Re:Rogue Wireless Carrier SysAdmin

[TheSpoom]

Unfortunately, by the time Stu has run his timebomb, Stu has also had fractions of a cent transferred to a bank account in the Caymans and is now living somewhere in the Bahamas under the pseudonym Leonard Stumonias, Esquire.

semtex

[Reality Master 201]

Presumably, these new netbooks also have a strangely oily layer of orange material inside attached to the remote kill switch.

So whatever you do, don't cut the red wire.

He won't bother to write or phone you...

[JimXugle]

He'll just rip the still beating heart from your chest!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMP2dvGFUlk&fmt=18

Re:bullshit

[Anonymous Coward]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123794137545832713.html

It's real.

So are "a href" tags.

Re:Used car salesmen use the same thing

[morgan_greywolf]

that's just good business sense. Even the mafia won't off-you if you're 5 minutes late on your payments

As someone who just became five minutes late on my 'protection' money, I can attest to th

Re:I stand corrected

[Anonymous Coward]

what's wrong with people selling a car wanting to get paid? it's not like the people getting one of those units have a good repayment history. these are people who would otherwise not get a loan at all.

Because cars want to be free, like music, movies and software. Car dealers are the worst sort of scum, they have all those cars and they want you to PAY for them!!! Outrageous!!!!

Re:Used car salesmen use the same thing

[c6gunner]

As someone who just became five minutes late on my 'protection' money, I can attest to th

Well, at least the goons were nice enough to hit the "preview" and "submit" button for you, in addition to all the other bits that they were hitting ...