Even as lawmakers in New York and San Francisco push cellphone makers to approve of the "kill switch," politicians and wireless carriers express opposing views.
The "kill switch" will enable users to deactivate their device remotely, which in turn will daunt thieves from stealing the phones.
The "kill switch" adoption program is being led by George Gascon, a San Francisco District attorney in partnership with Samsung.
"What I'm talking about is creating a kill switch so that when the phone gets reported stolen, it can be rendered inoperable in any configuration or carrier," said Gascon.
"Samsung takes the issue of smartphone theft very seriously, and we are continuing to enhance our solutions," said Jessica Redman, a Samsung spokeswoman. "We are working with the leaders of the Secure Our Smartphones (S.O.S.) Initiative to incorporate the perspective of law enforcement agencies. We will continue to work with them and our wireless carrier partners towards our common goal of stopping smartphone theft."
However, the initiative has met with setbacks as several mobile operators, including AT&T and Verizon Wireless have given it a thumbs down.
According to emails sent between Gascon, Samsung and the carriers involved, it appears that the carriers are not in favor of the program as they do not want to do away with the revenue stream that comes from selling insurance for mobile devices.
"The carriers are not innocent in this whole game. They are making profit off this," said Cathy L. Lanier, chief of the police department of the District of Columbia.
CTIA - The Wireless Association, which lobbies on behalf of the carriers justifies that they began a program like this one earlier. However, that project required the construction of a database that would aid network operators in locating stolen devices.
Critics opine that the database was not useless and there was no support offered for devices that were stolen when traveling abroad.
Apple currently provides users assistance in finding stolen or misplaced phones with its Find My iPhone software, which is free. This software can locate the missing iPhone or remotely erase the data on it. However, the software does not work if the phone is switched off or not connected to the Internet.
Google, on the other hand, does not provide any software for Android to aid users in finding a missing phone. However, some third-party Android apps that offer the same exist.
