Democratic State Senator Mark Leno says smart phones should come with kill switches pre-installed and active.
“That will make the solution pervasive, ubiquitous so criminals on the street know that this is not worth their time, or trouble or their risk,” says Leno. “That’s because the phone that they steal will be worthless.”
Leno says 1.6 million smart phones were stolen in 2012. That number had doubled by 2013. In San Francisco alone, two-thirds of all robberies involved smart phones.
The Wireless Association says it prefers a nation-wide technological approach that would require customers to activate their kill switches.
Apple and Microsoft ended earlier opposition to the bill after it was re-written to exclude tablets. The roll-out date for the law would also be delayed a few months from next January to next July.
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