The California state Senate has passed a bill requiring cellphone manufacturers to implement, and providers to activate, a “kill switch” that can be triggered remotely in the case of theft that renders the phone inoperable and unable to be reactivated. Owners of the iPhone are long familiar with these abilities, as Apple has offered them as opt-in features for some time, but the requirement that it be activated when users sign up for service will be new to many.
The intent of the bill, which California Governor Jerry Brown is likely to sign, is to make smartphones less valuable to thieves and make recovery easier. A similar bill has been introduced in the US Congress. Apple’s implementation in iOS, known as Find My iPhone (though it applies equally to iPads, the iPod touch, and Macs), ties into the iCloud service to locate missing or stolen devices (provided they are on and using cellular or Wi-Fi data).
