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Senators Propose Federal 'Kill Switch' Bill

Feb 14, 2014, 8:10 AM by Eric M. Zeman

Four U.S. senators have introduced a bill that would force handset makers to include a kill switch in all their devices. The Smartphone Theft Prevention Act was put forward by Senators Amy Klobuchar, Barbara Mikulski, Richard Blumenthal, and Mazie Hirono. It would require all phones sold in the U.S. to include a free-to-use kill switch that would allow device owners "to wipe their personal data off the phone, render the phone permanently inoperable to anyone but the owner, and prevent it from being reactivated on a network by anyone but the owner." The legislation follows a similar bill introduced in California. According to Sen. Klobuchar, the new bill has wide support from law enforcement officials. Lawmakers in California and New York worked with Samsung to develop a kill switch last year, but the network operators refused to implement it. Cell phone thefts have risen dramatically in recent years, and lawmakers believe device owners should be able to protect their data in such an event.

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jsc73

Feb 17, 2014, 7:25 AM

Predictable

I have the (mis)fortune of being 'represented' by Amy Klobuchar. She is a former prosecutor who is prone to this kind of sideshow legislation. While quite popular in Minnesota, I somehow doubt many other states would put up with her vapid logic or inane blathering when she is supporting legislation that amounts to a solution looking for a problem. At this point, while her re-election is probably safe, she is likely pushing this bill to make sure her personal news cycle doesn't revolve around the ACA or the havoc it has wreaked on the medical device industry in Minnesota - not to mention her completely ineffective half-efforts to repeal that part of the law.

Apparently she didn't learn from Rahm Emmanuel - if you are going to exploit a cr...
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Zpike

Typical liberal nutbaggery if you ask me. I think the official mantra of the Democrat party is, "Speak to them with a smile, screw them with a smile, laugh all the way to the bank."

Colombianmax

Feb 14, 2014, 9:36 AM

Hmmm

I could have used this law last year lol. I did not read the entire article but I wonder how this would work out for those who purchase their phones used, would they need a bill of sale to show their service provider?

Andras888

I guess phones would come with a secret and unique reactivation code and/or a title, like a vehicle.

DarkStar

How come you didn't download one of the million free apps that do this already?

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tjobrien21

Colombianmax said:
I could have used this law last year lol. I did not read the entire article but I wonder how this would work out for those who purchase their phones used, would they need a bill of sale to show their service prov

...
(continues)

...

Feb 14, 2014, 4:18 PM

Kill Bill switch

hehe

Yama Gama

I bet you 50$ that the killswitch first dumps all the info to the NSA

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aeternavi

Glad I'm not the only one that noticed. 🤣

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