Last month we reported that New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman had sent a letter to Apple, Google, Samsung and Motorola asking them about their work on making their devices more secure against thieves. Smartphone thefts are likely to turn violent, Schneiderman mentioned some thefts that had turned violent in his letter to these companies. Samsung has reportedly developed a solution of its own, dubbed a smartphone “kill switch” which will apparently allow remote locking or wiping of a stolen device.
Samsung is said to launch this solution in July, which is merely a fortnight away. Given Samsung’s influential position in the smartphone market, such a step may very well force other manufacturers to follow suit as well, not to mention the fact that it may greatly reduce the risk of someone losing their life due to a smartphone theft. This kill switch will reportedly enable Samsung, mobile carriers and perhaps even the U.S. government to remotely wipe, lock or disable a stolen smartphone. Said smartphone will be rendered useless, it will not work on any carrier in any part of the world. The company itself hasn’t said anything about such a feature, we’ll let you know if it makes an announcement next month.
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