Lawmakers in California recently proposed legislation that would require smartphone makers to place a "kill switch" on all their devices. Now, the U.S. Senate has also propsed the kill switch bill, but if this one is passed, the mandate would be nationwide.
The federal bill is called the Smartphone Theft Prevention Act. Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) are leading the charge for the new bill. These four Senators are convinced that if a kill switch is required on every smartphone, mobile device theft will decrease.
The kill switch would render any stolen device unusable to the thief, so that they have nothing to gain from stealing the device. In recent years, mobile device theft has increased rapidly. In New York City and San Francisco, almost 50 percent of all robberies involve a smartphone. In Oakland, that number is even higher. The Senators believe that the time to act is now, before smartphone-related crimes continue to rise unchecked.
"Cell phone theft has become a big business for thieves looking to cash in on these devices and any valuable information they contain, costing consumers more than $30 billion every year and endangering countless theft victims," Klobuchar said in a statement. "This legislation will help eliminate the incentives for criminals to target smartphones by empowering victims to take steps to keep their information private; protect their identity and finances; and render the phone inoperable to the thieves."
Others, including prominent technology companies, oppose the legislation because they view it as yet another government restriction on the tech industry's ability to innovate. The cellular industry trade group CTIA is a vocal opponent of the law as are most mobile carriers.
"Rather than impose technology mandates, a better approach would be to enact Senator Schumer's legislation to criminalize tampering with mobile device identifiers," CTIA Vice President of Government Affairs Jot Carpenter said, according to Re/code. "This would build on the industry's efforts to create the stolen device databases; give law enforcement another tool to combat criminal behavior; and leave carriers, manufacturers, and software developers free to create new, innovative loss and theft prevention tools for consumers who want them."
Among tech enthusiasts, the main concern is that a kill switch could be triggered by accident, rendering a honest person's phone useless for no reason. There is also a lot of distrust between the tech industry and government, especially in recent months. Still, most law enforcement officials insist that the kill switch is meant to protect users, not control them. They see it simply as a safety measure, like a seat belt.
"In major cities across the Nation, cell phone theft has rapidly become the most common robbery and most frequent street crime," Commissioner Chuck Ramsey, president of the Major Cities Chiefs, said. "So long as these devices are still operable, this crime trend will continue to escalate. That's why the proposed kill switch is the only way to get the job done. We look forward to the swift passage of legislation that will ensure stolen devices no longer have any value to criminals on the street."
It is unknown whether the bill will pass, but it is certain that the demand for a kill switch from authorities is growing with each and every smartphone theft.
