Google, Microsoft to add smartphone 'kill' switches
Google, Microsoft to add smartphone ' kill'
switches
AFP
14 hours ago
Washington (AFP) - Google and Microsoft plan to join
Apple in introducing theft-deterring "kill switches" in their
smartphone operating systems, as part of an agreement with mayors and police
agencies.
The announcement came in a report by the "Secure Our
Smartphones Initiative" led by the New York
state attorney general with officials from San Francisco
and London .
The coalition of more than 100 elected leaders and law
enforcement officials from major cities said the agreement means the three main
smartphone platforms would soon add the feature as part of an effort to curb an
epidemic of thefts.
The report said Google Android and Microsoft Windows
Phone would add the feature -- enabling a user to deactivate a stolen handset
-- after Apple included this last year.
Google and Microsoft did not immediately respond to
requests for comment.
"The commitments of Google and Microsoft are giant
steps toward consumer safety and the statistics released today illustrate the
stunning effectiveness of kill switches," said New York Attorney General
Eric Schneiderman.
"In just one year, the Secure Our Smartphones
Initiative has made tremendous strides towards curtailing the alarming trend of
violent smartphone theft. We will continue the fight to ensure that companies
put consumers' safety first and work
toward ending the epidemic of smartphone theft. "
The report noted that preliminary data following Apple' s adoption of its "activation lock"
feature found that in the first five months of 2014, theft of Apple devices
fell by 17 percent in New York ,
while thefts of Samsung products increased by 51 percent from the same period
in the previous year.
In the six months after Apple introduced the feature,
iPhone thefts fell 24 percent in London and
robberies fell 38 percent in San
Francisco , while thefts of other popular mobile
devices increased, the report said.
The report cited studies that showed 3.1 million mobile
devices were stolen in 2013 -- nearly double the levels of 2012, and one in
three Europeans experienced the theft or loss of a mobile device last year.
In 2013, a mobile device played a role in roughly half of
all robberies in New York City , San
Francisco and London ,
the report said.
"We can make the violent epidemic of smartphone
theft a thing of the past, and these numbers prove that," said San
Francisco District Attorney George Gascon.
"It was evident from day one that a technological
solution was not only possible, but that it would serve as an effective
deterrent to this growing threat. This past year we successfully held the
wireless industry' s feet to the fire
and it' s already having an impact
for consumers."
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