When cell phones first emerged, nerdy looking 'holsters' were all the rage, but it quickly became apparent that they looked like the latter-day equivalent of pocket protectors from the 1950s - and they were unnecessary.
The preference quickly became stuffing them in a back pocket or purse or bag, tight jeans be damned, and the less well guarded the better to monitor the constant stream of texts and Tweets and likes and snapchats and instagrams.
The problem, of course, is that those features are exactly what make smartphones such a tempting target. That, and the fact that they have value, a street value in particular, they are fungible and the attractions of upgrading to a better brand with better features are manifest.
The question, then, was how to design a solution that would be equally convenient and not require either ridiculous-looking or expensive alternatives. Hence, the kill switch.
It's beauty - philosophical and utilitarian - lies in its intangible rather than tangible essence, reflective of the device's power itself. Form follows function, dude. JL
Sharon Bernstein reports in Reuters:
Handheld devices were stolen from 1.6 million Americans in 2012. In California, smartphone theft accounts for more than half of all crimes
Thefts involving smartphones have declined dramatically in three major cities since manufacturers began implementing "kill switches" that allow the phones to be turned off remotely if they are stolen, authorities said on Tuesday.
The number of stolen iPhones dropped by 40 percent in San Francisco and 25 percent in New York in the 12 months after Apple Inc added a kill switch to its devices in September 2013. In London, smartphone theft dropped by half, according to an announcement by officials in the three cities.
"We have made real progress in tackling the smartphone theft epidemic that was affecting many major cities just two years ago," said London Mayor Boris Johnson.
Johnson, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon and New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman were among numerous officials arguing for new laws mandating the kill switches.
In California, where a law mandating kill switches has yet to go into effect, smartphone theft is dropping because some manufacturers have already started installing the software-based switches on the devices they sell, Gascon said.
“The wireless industry continues to roll out sophisticated new features, but preventing their own customers from being the target of a violent crime is the coolest technology they can bring to market,” Gascon said.
California's law, one of the nation's strongest, received wide support from California prosecutors and law enforcement agencies that hoped it could help reduce smartphone thefts.
According to the National Consumers League, handheld devices were stolen from 1.6 million Americans in 2012. In California, smartphone theft accounts for more than half of all crimes in San Francisco, Oakland and other cities.
Other states experiencing a rash of smartphone thefts have considered similar measures, and Minnesota passed a theft-prevention law last year.
So far, Apple, Samsung and Google have implemented kill switches on their smartphones, and Microsoft is expected to release an operating system for its Windows phones that has one this year, the three officials said in their news release.
But some of the smartphone systems require consumers to opt in, meaning not all will be protected when their phones are operating in the default mode.
Gascon, Johnson and Schneiderman called on all manufacturers to make the technology active as a default position, as Apple has done with its iPhones.
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