Hey, remember Killswitch Engage? The metalcore band formed back in 1999 from bands like Aftershock and Overcast? Not as popular as Atreyu? Those guys. Well, this article isn’t about them.
Shut it, Seagal, it’s not always about you, either!
This is about why your cellphone doesn’t have a remotely activated kill switch that you can use to brick your phone when it gets stolen. Now that seemingly everyone everywhere has a smartphone, (1 Billion smartphones were sold in 2013 alone), smartphone thefts are becoming an epidemic. So, why doesn’t your phone have the means to report its whereabouts? Or remotely deactivate?
Recently, in Sacramento, CA, State Senator Mark Leno reintroduced measure SB962, which required manufacturers or cellphone carriers to have a kill switch feature, at least in California. The bill had previously been voted down, but with its reintroduction, was passed 25 to 8, up from the previous 19 votes of the necessary 21.
In a (somewhat alarmist) letter written by CTIA, The Wireless Association (a telecom lobbying group) on behalf of every large Silicon Valley company in the cellphone business — including Apple, Samsung, Verizon, AT&T, and Microsoft, among others — said kill switch technology should only be made available to customers who want it, not mandated.
This could be used to disable entire groups of customers, such as Department of Defense, Homeland Security or emergency services/law enforcement.
One of the biggest proponents of the bill, and other measures like this, has been exactly some of these groups, including the California District Attorney’s Association, California Police Chiefs Association, and BART police. Apple and Microsoft have since removed their opposition from the bill, further weakening the CTIA’s argument.
San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón, one of the bill’s sponsors, welcomed CTIA’s response but said it falls short of what’s necessary to fight rampant cellphone theft, because those types of apps don’t work as crime deterrents.
“Smartphones have infiltrated virtually every aspect of our daily lives, but there’s nothing smart about devices that attract violent crime when the technology to end this epidemic is readily available,” said San Francisco District Attorney, George Gascón in a statement back in February. “The industry is profiting at the expense and safety of wireless consumers everywhere.”
Gascón has also made the point that manufacturers like Apple and cell-phone providers make billions annually from theft insurance plans.
I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.
From that same statement by Gascón:
For the manufacturer and the carriers, all a theft means is another sale. People are going back for a second phone; there is usually an up-sale, because the model that they had is generally no longer available—so people get sucked into new contracts. At least on the surface, [the companies] appear to be very mercenary, very profit-oriented, and not very socially conscious.
From CTIA’s website:
“Insure It. If you are prone to losing things, you may want to consider insuring your device through your wireless provider or a third party entity so that if it is lost or stolen, your replacement device is covered.”
Because you consumers are apparently stupid and just asking for it.
Gascón’s office has made its cellphone theft data available, so IDG News Service put together an interactive map of where cellphone thefts have occurred from November 2012 through April 2013.
San Francisco, home of iPhone theft
Given that 50 percent of all robberies in San Francisco involve smartphones — and 75 percent in neighboring Oakland and up to 40 percent nationwide — it’s a source of crime Gascón is more than familiar with, as is New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
“For the past eight months, the Secure Our Smartphone Initiative has been challenging carriers and manufacturers to install technology to end the epidemic of violent smartphone thefts plaguing our communities,” said Schneiderman in his own statement on the kill switch discussion.
“We strongly urge CTIA and its members to make their anti-theft features enabled by default on all devices, rather than relying on consumers to opt-in,” said Schneiderman in agreement with Gascón in a joint statement. “The industry also has a responsibility to protect its consumers now and not wait until next year.”
It’s not just manufacturers who profit from people buying replacement phones (35 percent of all phones purchased last year were to replace stolen phones, adding up to $30 billion) or network providers offering insurance. In 2013, one couple made $4 million selling stolen phones from the U.S. to Hong Kong. One phone trafficker, Hassan Essayli, admitted in 2008 that his company, Platform Enterprises, shipped 30,000 phones from California to other countries in two months. In 2009, federal agents charged Hezbollah operatives in Philadelphia with attempting to buy thousands of stolen cell phones and ship them to Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates to finance the Shiite militant organization and buy Stinger missiles and guns.
Last year, American and Mexican wireless carriers began collaborating to address the cross-border trade in stolen phones after learning that Mexican drug cartels were using them to communicate with kidnapping victims’ relatives. Phones stolen in the United States have been located “on all continents except Antarctica,” said Marci Carris, Vice-President of customer finance services at Sprint.
In Bogota, Colombia, the head of a cyber crime unit at the Colombian National Police, Fredy Bautista Garcia, accused the electronics giants of indifference in the face of deadly violence plaguing his country. Garcia praised new legislation in South Korea that requires phone makers to embed a kill switch in every new device; he questioned why smartphone companies haven’t done likewise everywhere.
“I don’t think they understand the magnitude of the problem,” Garcia said.
Colombians have coined an expression for carrying phones in public: “Giving papaya,” which basically means “tempting fate.” In North America, it’s called “Apple picking.”
The Rest Of The World, however, is always several degrees away from how North America handles cell-phones.
In London, more than 300 cell phones are stolen daily. Network carriers in the UK and Europe can then blacklist and shut the phone down remotely — even if the SIM card is changed, as can Australian companies — features that have been in place for years. British police have had high level talks with cell-phone carriers and manufacturers to push the matter further.
While you’re waiting, there are these options:
- Where’s My iPhone? for Apple devices.
- Where’s My Droid? for Android devices.
- Prey for Androids, Laptops and Desktops.
- Lookout for Android.
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