America
More states to mandate "kill switch" for smartphone
San Francisco, March 31
US lawmakers of at
least eight states are trying to mandate a "kill switch" for smartphones
in an attempt to reduce the instrument's thefts and robberies, media
reported.
Lawmakers in Connecticut, Illinois, Mississippi,
Missouri, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Virginia are working on draft
legislations to authorise introduction of a software in
newly-manufactured smartphones that can remotely disable stolen or lost
devices, making them worthless to thieves or robbers, Xinhua news
agwency reported.
California and Minnesota were the first two US
states to adopt rules requiring smartphone manufacturers to make the
"kill switch" function available in every device. Those bills will be
put into effect on July 1 this year.
Reports said last month that
three cities, namely San Francisco, New York and London, saw dramatic
decline in smartphone thefts and robberies since the wireless industry
began to include the "kill switch" on their devices, under Secure Our
Smartphones (SOS), an international law-enforcing partnership initiative
aimed at detering thefts.
Despite initial opposition from major
US wireless carriers, who were particularly against state level mandate
for the technology, some of them are now willing to introduce similar
solutions to curb phone thefts.
Lost and stolen mobile devices in 2013 were estimated to have cost US consumers over $30 billion.