US Carriers Said To Have Rejected Kill Switch Technology Last Year

alphadogg writes "U.S. cellphone carriers were offered a technology last year that supporters say would dramatically cut incidents of smartphone theft, but the carriers turned it down, according to sources with knowledge of the proposal. The so-called 'kill-switch' software allows consumers to remotely wipe and render their phones useless if stolen. Law enforcement and politicians believe the incentive for stealing a smartphone or tablet would be greatly reduced if the technology became standard, because the devices could quickly be rendered useless. A proposal by Samsung to the five largest U.S. carriers would have made the LoJack software, developed by Canada's Absolute Software, a standard component on many of its Android phones in the U.S. The proposal followed pressure from the offices of the San Francisco District Attorney and the New York Attorney General for the industry to do more to prevent phone theft."

Comments

That's a great plan...

[Lab Rat Jason]

... until someone hacks into a carriers network, and deactivates and wipes EVERY PHONE on the carriers registry.

So full of nope: Bruce Schneier on this

[Scareduck]

Right here:

... given what we now know, do we trust that the government wouldn't abuse this system and kill phones for other reasons? Do we trust that media companies won't kill phones it decided were sharing copyrighted materials? Do we trust that phone companies won't kill phones from delinquent customers? What might have been a straightforward security system becomes a dangerous tool of control, when you don't trust those in power.

And this, ultimately, is the problem with those who keep repeating that we should just trust the government. It implies we should also disengage our brains.

Re:Well duh?

[DarkOx]

To use a car analogy, demanding carriers implement a kill switch would be like demanding SUNOCO keep a registry of stolen vehicles and verify license plates at all their filling stations before selling anyone gas. Not that most US cellular operators don't deserve to be spend to 'that special hell', its still not fair to burden them with problems which are not their own.

You are responsible for your own property. If you can't hold on to your phone buy some theft insurance for it. As others have stated there is a huge risk to consumers posed by remote wipe and kill switch technology. What happens when your angry girlfirend falsely reports your phone stolen? What happens if the carrier's network get breached and someone sends the kill commands to all devices. What if its just a leak like Verizon's text portal awhile back and someone just spams the system with tons of false reports?

These guys don't have the track record to properly manage this kind of power. They also don't have any moral obligation to you in the first place.