Cellphone ‘kill switch’ battle has people talking

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A handful of states are pursuing legislation to require cellphone manufacturers to equip their devices with “kill switch” technology that would allow the phone to be remotely shut down and wiped of its information if it is stolen.

Those sponsoring the measures argue the requirement is necessary to combat a surge in cellphone thefts and protect consumers from having not only their phone but much of their personal information stolen.

But the trend is alarming privacy advocates, who say law enforcement agencies could rely on the legislation to remotely shut down phones for public safety reasons.

Such power could be used to rob citizens of the ability to use their phones’ cameras and recording functions to document police activity or communicate with one another during a demonstration, they said.

“The idea of this being co-opted as an anti-protest tool is especially disturbing,” said Jake Laperruque, a security expert at the Center for Democracy and Technology, a Washington, D.C.based policy organization.

Laperruque noted that police icers targeted protesters and journalists in Ferguson, Mo., ordering them to stop recording.

So far, two states, California and Minnesota, have passed legislation requiring manufacturers to equip phones with a kill switch. Both laws take effect next year.

Two more states are considering legislation: Nevada and New Jersey. In Nevada, the attorney general’s office is sponsoring the legislation, which will be considered when the Legislature convenes in February.

“The point of the bill is to deincentivize the effectiveness of smartphones to thieves,” said Deputy Attorney General Laura Tucker. “If a thief knows that if they steal a phone they can be 100% certain it can be wiped remotely, smartphones will be a less attractive target for thieves.”

Smartphone thefts are on a sharp rise, particularly in large cities, where as many as one in three robberies involve a mobile device, according to the Federal Communications Commission. Cellphone thefts nearly doubled from 2012 to 2013, when 3.1 million phones were stolen, according to Consumer Reports.