Prosecutors seek 'kill switch' to prevent theft and 'Apple picking'
Summary: U.S. prosecutors are hoping that a "kill switch" function will
deter the theft of mobile gadgets.
By Charlie Osborne
ZDNET.COM
June 6, 2013 -- 07:33 GMT (00:33 PDT)
http://www.zdnet.com/prosecutors-seek-kill-switch-to-prevent-theft-and-apple-picking-7000016463/
To try and stop the rising number of smartphone thefts, U.S. prosecutors
are trying to convince manufacturers to include a "kill switch" that
will disable stolen mobile devices.
New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and San Francisco
District Attorney George Gascon said on Wednesday that they will meet on
July 13 to meet with representatives of the four largest smartphone
manufacturers to discuss the idea. The prosecutors intend to ask the
firms to include a disability mechanism on future mobiles that will
render the devices useless if taken -- which could eliminate the current
incentives for theft and prevent smartphones being sold on to other users.
The Smartphone Summit is aimed at preventing the violence which can
follow street crime to steal phones, known as "Apple picking." As mobile
devices increase in value, U.S. police forces have seen a subsequent
spike in the rates of violent theft.
In some recent examples of violent mobile device theft, on February 21,
2013, a 6 year old San Francisco boy was robbed of his mother’s iPhone,
and in February 2013, three people were stabbed on a subway platform in
Queens in a fight over an iPhone. Earlier this month, a woman was mugged
at gunpoint in Crown Heights for her Android device. The prosecutors say
that approximately 50 percent of all robberies in San Francisco involved
a mobile device.
Although applications have been developed to keep track of stolen
smartphones, both Gascón and Schneiderman have criticized the companies
-- which have secured a majority marketshare -- for not tackling the
issue sooner. On May 10, letters were sent to the Chief Executive
Officers of Apple, Google/Motorola, Microsoft, and Samsung seeking
information about the companies’ efforts to protect customers from
"Apple-picking." These companies control over 90 percent of the market
for mobile electronic devices. In response to those letters, all four
tech giants agreed to attend the Smartphone Summit.
Representatives from Apple, Google/Motorola, Samsung and Microsoft will
attend the meeting.
"The theft of handheld devices is the fastest-growing street crime, and
increasingly, incidents are turning violent," said Attorney General
Schneiderman. "It's time for manufacturers to be as innovative in
solving this problem as they have been in designing devices that have
reshaped how we live."
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