"California “Kill Switch” Bill Could Be Used to Disrupt Protests"
As if it were designed for any other purpose other than control. When did preventing stolen phones become such a hot button issue?
As if it were designed for any other purpose other than control. When did preventing stolen phones become such a hot button issue?
Still, it doesn't justify a mandatory kill switch (there are a large number of free apps you can download), and it certainly doesn't justify letting police use kill switches that are installed.
[1] http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06/19/antitheft-technolog...
When phones started being $600+ and carried by nearly everyone. I'm just as much against the kill switches as you are, but I've heard so many cops and high ranking police officers complain about smart-phone theft that I think that they truly believe this would be a major weapon against criminals.
And why wouldn't it be: every phone theft is hundreds of dollars, and there's a lot of phone thefts happening worldwide.
Not really. They truly believe that this bill would be great for controlling people. But they can't come out and say that openly. Hence the theft strawman.
We have a national do-not-call registry. Why not have a registry of stolen IMEI codes? Problem solved. But that would be too easy.
When phone theft became half of all robberies in San Francisco. When phone theft rose 40% last year in New York, to become 20% of all robberies in that city. When phone theft became the number on property crime in the US, accounting for 1/3 of all property crime. When in half the San Francisco incidents, the victims were punched, kicked, or physically intimidated, and in a quarter of them were threatened with guns or knives.