Discouraging thefts – Counsel

The governor of California, Jerry Brown, signed on Monday (25/8) a law requiring manufacturers to equip all smartphones , from July 2015 with a technology that allows the user to “kill” the device remotely if the phone is lost or stolen. It is the first law that requires manufacturers to install on smartphone software called “Kill Switch.”

is not news that California, with its Silicon Valley, routinely changes people’s lives around the world with its technology. But it is certainly a rare case approval of a state law have the same effect. For one simple reason: the manufacturers smartphones will not produce smartphones special only to California. Neither will leave California, the eighth largest economy in the world.

In addition, other states should follow the lead of California, as often occurs, and approve similar laws. This is a common phenomenon in the United States. When a state passes a law that makes success, others pass laws copycats (imitators). Minnesota had approved a similar bill in June, but it does not require that the technology already come pre-installed in the smartphones .

So, citizens of all states – and hence of all countries in the world – only have the option to purchase a smartphone of the major manufacturers, like Apple, Samsung, Google, Microsoft and Motorola Mobility, equipped with the “Kill Switch”, from next year.

The law was devised and approved with the aim of curbing the theft of smartphones in the state. Only in San Francisco, California, 2400 smartphones were stolen in 2013 – an increase of 23% over 2012 Across the country, about 3.1 million of these devices were stolen in 2013 , almost double the 1.6 million stolen in 2012, according to “Consumer Report”.

Apple has experience this technology since September last year. According to San Francisco police, the volume of thefts of iPhones dropped 38% in the city in the last six months.

With this technology, the user can disable the device remotely if lost or stolen and delete all your files, if convenient. In addition, the software should prevent a thief reinstall the operating system on the device, so that it becomes useless. Thus, the theory goes, will not be worth stealing a smartphone to sell it or use it. The owner of the unit may reactivate it, if found, with the use of a password.

Reviews The manufacturers smartphone resisted the approval of the law, as they might. Finally settled, after the deadline for its entry into force was extended and tablets have been deleted from its text. But some organizations, especially those that defend civil liberties, criticize the law

The main criticism is that the law allows the police -., Or any security agency – working with providers of telephony disable smartphones , when there is an organization and public protests on behalf of public safety or national security.

The law does not have any provisions prohibiting security agencies to “kill “ smartphones . Instead, now they have a legal loophole and technical means to do this whenever they see fit to maintain order, says the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which opposed the passage of the law. “It opened up a possibility of abuse, because the law does not specify who can disable a smartphone ,” the EFF said.

In addition, the ability to disable a smartphone , which is open to the owner of the unit and the security agencies, is also accessible by hackers , that can “kill” a phone for revenge or just for fun. The possibility is also open to criminals, which can disable smartphones , so that victims can not call the police, the same way that disable alarms from homes.

The law provides that the user can choose to disable the feature of “Kill Switch”, after buying and enable a smartphone . “However, it is widely known that users, in general, do not disable the original factory settings,” says the EFF.

John Ozorio de Melo is a correspondent of the magazine Counsel in the United States.