Over three million smartphones were stolen in the US alone in 2013. Now, a new law means that smartphones in California will be required to come with a "kill switch" to make them useless if lost or stolen.
Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below.
The activity is suitable for intermediate 2 students.
1 What does 'half' refer to in the news item?
2 What other name does Senator Marc Leno give for 'technological deterrence'?
3 What will happen to retailers if they don't observe the new law?
4 What objection have manufacturers raised?
5 And the wireless industry?
6 What other concerns have been raised?
To check your answers, you can read the transcript below.
The San Francisco Bay, an area that lives and breathes technology. Smart phones are conspicuous emblems of the mobile boom, but their easy pickings in what has become a major street epidemic. These high-end handsets specifically targeted in more than half of all robberies (1). Now law makers have put thieves on notice. From next July all smart phones sold here will have to ship with anti-theft software rendering them completely useless if they are stolen. Marc Leno is the state senator who introduced the bill.
Clearly this is a crime of convenience. If we can end the convenience, we can end the crime, so this is making use of a technological deterrence, sometimes referred to as a kill-switch (2).
Many major smart phone makes already carry a kill switch or are planning to soon, but California now requires them to be turned on by default when the phone is sold, with retailers risking a fine if they sell non-complaint handsets (3). But even though the law enjoys overwhelming public support, some industry watchers are warning it’s not a silver bullet.
Even with the kill switch parts of the phone can be sold in the black market rather than just the phones themselves (4). So theft itself is going to continue as a public safety issue.
And the law has been criticized by the body representing the wireless industry. It argues state by state enforcement risks stifling innovation and the users are already protected by measures like a national stolen phone database (5).
And those aren’t the only concerns. Some critics worry the kill switch could be abused on a mass scale by hackers, and civil libertarians also say that the law itself could be open to abuse by police (6), who have the ability to activate the kill switch under extreme circumstances. But for the many victims of smart phone theft here, the law can’t come round soon enough, initial evidence suggesting that a kill switch does deter thieves from stealing their prized possessions.
Richard Taylor, BBC News, San Francisco.
