California "Kill-Switch" Bill Heading to Governor

[exfileme]

The "kill-switch" bill is now heading to California's governor for approval.

California "Kill-Switch" Bill Heading to Governor : Read more

 

[soldier44]

California a state in such dire need to drop off into the ocean.

 

[mavikt]

Hmm, any innovators out there; How about a wearable ring (perhaps a smart watch?) with a sort of RFID tag that would securely unlock your phone when you pick it up... I could use that! Okay so, prior art established => Eat that apple

 

[NightLight]

Hmm, any innovators out there; How about a wearable ring (perhaps a smart watch?) with a sort of RFID tag that would securely unlock your phone when you pick it up... I could use that! Okay so, prior art established => Eat that apple

I'm patenting that

 

[RCguitarist]

This is a lame use of the phrase "kill switch". Erasing your personal data isnt going to stop the rise in theft. People who steal phones dont care about your data, they want to sell your phone for cash. A real kill switch that would fry the electronics inside your phone would be better as it would render the phone worthless to a thief.

 

[John Wittenberg]

Yep - a real kill switch should brick the phone making it useless and worth only a few parts for resale for use in repairs. This would almost make stealing a phone pointless. Of course, trying to safeguard that feature from hackers would be *almost* impossible.

 

[John Wittenberg]

Yep - a real kill switch should brick the phone making it useless and worth only a few parts for resale for use in repairs. This would almost make stealing a phone pointless. Of course, trying to safeguard that feature from hackers would be *almost* impossible.

 

[helper800]

"California a state in such dire need to drop off into the ocean."

Don't worry in the next couple hundred thousand years California will get a large peninsula and eventually break off into an island.

 

[damric]

I was hoping the "killswitch" actually killed the thief by stabbing, poisoning, or electrocution. THIS IS SO LAME.

 

[rantoc]

And in later news hackers did a nice prank wih the killswitch and made life worse for millions of peoople...

 

[virtualban]

This is a way to open the road to government implemented/tested mandatory app for the kill switch, which, you know, NSA yada yada, but true despite so blatant.

 

[zhunt99]

California, if any state, knows why a kill switch is needed. I recommend a kill switch for the Governator for if (and when) he goes Terminator.

 

[vaelyan]

California really needs to focus on real issues, especially when manufacturers are already doing this.

 

[gm0n3y]

Do phone thieves really care about someone's personal data? I would think that they'd automatically do a factory reset to avoid anyone tracking them. And if they're too stupid to do that then they probably aren't getting past the lock screen anyway. As others have mentioned, anything short of a 'kill switch' that will actually make the phone unusable is a waste of time.

Maybe a better idea would be to have a remote lock that would cause the phone to be unusable until you verify you are the actual owner with your carrier or the manufacturer. This would have to go beyond a factory reset and would also require users to register their exact phone.

 

[f-14]

Hmm, any innovators out there; How about a wearable ring (perhaps a smart watch?) with a sort of RFID tag that would securely unlock your phone when you pick it up... I could use that! Okay so, prior art established => Eat that apple

Hmm, any innovators out there; How about a wearable ring (perhaps a smart watch?) with a sort of RFID tag that would securely unlock your phone when you pick it up... I could use that! Okay so, prior art established => Eat that apple

i thought of that awhile ago also, but pretty soon your phones will be the watch, so kill switched cell phones is already obsolete by the time it's implemented.

remember the star trek stuff, and then the next generation stuff. after the phone watch things will shrink again down to ears or lapel pin size or ear bud.

California is always reactionary. hackers will have a field day with the kill switch bricking 2-20 million phones at a time. best solution would be to just stop selling cell phones in california. make those sun bleached brain drainers go out of state to get their cell phone products.

cell phones shouldn't store personal data to begin with plus they should be on voice control already like motorola debuted back in 2001.