I heard about the legislation being passed in CA to require phones to have a mobile kill switch that would make it less desirable to phone thieves to steal phones since they would be useless once they’re reported stolen. There’s lots of third-party software that allows you to remote wipe you phones, but this would be something that is built into the hardware and controlled by the carriers probably. While it sounds great for consumers because fewer thieves would be trying to steal your phone, what about hackers who once they hack the manufacturer or the carriers would be able to access anyone’s phone. This makes a very large target for hackers and a single point of failure. I also wonder what would happen if false reports of stolen phones start becoming normal and your jealous ex or even if buddies jokingly report your phone stolen and you lose everything on your phone and it becomes a brick. Kind of scary sounding, right?
So according to the article, they are trying to make this a federal law. I really don’t know if it’s a good idea, but luckily we all know how slow the government is and it would take a while for manufacturers and carriers to implement something.
Excerpt from the article:
On Thursday, US Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Mazie Hirono (D-HI) introduced national legislation to require a way to disable smartphones remotely. The goal is to deter theft and protect consumers, but this defense against thieves might come with greater vulnerability to hackers, according to a mobile industry trade group.