MasHD Blog

The state of California has introduced a bill that would require mobile devices to have a ‘kill switch’ which would render them inoperable and impossible to reset if stolen. If passed, Senate Bill 962 would require every smartphone sold in or shipped to California to have the mechanism installed by as early as January 2015, with smartphone manufacturers given until June of this year to come up with solutions for integrating the technology into their devices. State Senator Mark Leno, San Francisco Attorney George Gascon, and other officials and law enforcement officers co-authored the document in hopes that the wireless industry would wake up to the realities of unusually high phone theft statistics in California, AP reported. Mobile phone theft accounts for almost one in three US robberies, according to the Federal Communications Commission. The rates are even higher in California, accounting for 60 percent of thefts in San Francisco and 75 percent in nearby Oakland. San Franci...

The idea of having the ability to remotely stop a vehicle isn’t new. GM has been able to do that for a number of years via OnStar. If some OnStar equipped cars are stolen, the car can be remotely turned off allowing police to catch the suspects. Authorities in Europe have a plan that could one day require remote kill switches on all cars. The plan would require every car entering Europe to have a system fitted that would allow the car to be tracked and disabled remotely by police. The program is reportedly being developed by the European Network of Law Enforcement Technologies with the goal of building a standard for all automobiles. The plan was revealed by a civil rights group from Europe called Statewatch. Authorities want to make it so police could disable any vehicle remotely at the touch of a button. The police say such a system would end high-speed chases. Statewatch fears that the system would be abused. The GM OnStar system requires the owner of the vehicle to give p...