Technology
Carriers Reject Kill Switch for Stolen Smartphones
TERRY COLLINS Associated Press
Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest mobile phone manufacturer, has proposed installing a built-in anti-theft measure known as a “kill switch” that would render stolen or lost phones inoperable, but San Francisco’s top prosecutor says the nation’s biggest carriers have rejected the idea.
District Attorney George Gascon said Monday that AT&T Inc., Verizon Wireless, United States Cellular Corp., Sprint Corp. and T-Mobile US Inc. rebuffed Samsung’s proposal to preload its phones with Absolute LoJack anti-theft software as a standard feature.
The wireless industry says a kill switch isn’t the answer because it could allow a hacker to disable someone’s phone.
Gascon, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and other law enforcement officials have been demanding that manufacturers create kill switches to combat surging smartphone theft across the country.
