Minnesota passes nation’s first smartphone ‘kill switch’ law

Washington Post ^ | 5/15/2014 | NIRAJ CHOKSHI

[markomalley]

Minnesota on Wednesday passed the nation’s first law requiring smartphones to have the ability to be remotely disabled. 

The law requires smartphone manufacturers to introduce so-called “kill switches” in devices to allow users to make lost or stolen phones unusable. In so doing, the state hopes to remove the incentive for such robberies, which are on the rise. A Consumer Reports survey released last month found that 3.1 million Americans had cellphones stolen in 2013, nearly double the 1.6 million thefts reported the previous year. Some of those robberies can become violent, as was the case for a Minneapolis mayoral candidate who received nine stitches after being assaulted by teenage thieves in December. 

“This law will help combat the growing number of violent cellphone thefts in Minnesota,” Gov. Mark Dayton said in a statement to announce the bill’s signing. Minnesota is the first state to pass such a law. A similar measure is working its way through the California legislature.

Between 30 percent and 40 percent of robberies in cities involve cellphones, according to Federal Communications Commission statistics from 2012. The number of cellphone thefts last year rose in San Francisco, New York, Washington and Philadelphia, the Huffington Post reported.

Businesses and industry groups have argued against imposing kill switch mandates because they could pose risks, such as mistaken or malicious disabling of devices.

[Svartalfiar]

All of the providers will let you close your account, and all of those that are using SIMs will let you unregister the SIM. Either of these will prevent thieves from using your phone on your dime. But they won’t prevent a thief from installing a new SIM.

For most phone-saving programs, yes. But it depends on how the program is set up. My buddies made a Android program, SeekDroid, that runs off the imei for your device. So even if a thief pulls the SIM/replaces it, SeekDroid'll still be able to locate/lock the phone. The only way to get around it would be to reflash the phone with another ROM.

[GOPJ]

Minnesota - the land of ‘we don’t get it’ and we’re proud of it...

[Organic Panic]

Cops will love this when you are ‘caught’ filming them in public beating someone.

[apoliticalone]

And here I thought this was about giving our government (yeah the one that is supposed to work for us) the power to kill our communications, the cell system and the internet.

[WayneS]

No, they do not.

;-)

[WayneS]

I have an “application” I can “press” which allows me to remotely kill the guy who just grabbed my cell phone - but it didn’t come from Apple.

[Gaffer]

I have that same app too:o)

[napscoordinator]

lol. I think that is the best ever.

[Vendome]

Why not put a kill switch in a six pack of beer.

Put a capsule of hemlock in each can that can be remotely triggered to mix upon opening a tin of suds.

[a fool in paradise]

People steal smart phones when they rob somebody so that the victim cannot call for help.