Smartphone 'Kill Switch' Law Takes Effect In California

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How long do you think it will be before someone exploits this to lock owners out of their own phone?

The so-called software is designed to make stealing smartphones essentially pointless by allowing owners to remotely lock their device so no one can use it. The technology, which includes Apple's "Activation Lock" and Google's "Device Protection," has become a key selling point among phone manufacturers that offer peace of mind to protect customers' information if a phone is stolen, and hopefully discourage thieves from stealing it in the first place.
 
"The next step was making sure people used the technology. California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill last August mandating kill switch software be included and turned on in all smartphones manufactured after Wednesday and sold in the state."

Because the govt. cares so much? :rolleyes:
If the software causes problems, do you have the choice to turn it off or uninstall it without breaking the law?
 
I've said this before in other forums.
A kill switch is just plainly stupid.
You can break down any smartphone for components and sell them for fast easy cash without being tracked on where the parts came from.
Each of those new lcd screens go for 150-200+. Battery is at least 30-50. Sometime the parts inside are modular so you can sell the microphone, camera housing, etc without the locked part. Then there's always just doing a recovery on the phone and swaping the esn number. All of it is possible.
 
I've said this before in other forums.
A kill switch is just plainly stupid.
You can break down any smartphone for components and sell them for fast easy cash without being tracked on where the parts came from.
Each of those new lcd screens go for 150-200+. Battery is at least 30-50. Sometime the parts inside are modular so you can sell the microphone, camera housing, etc without the locked part. Then there's always just doing a recovery on the phone and swaping the esn number. All of it is possible.

I dunno about Apple, but Android already has a tracking and device lockout option built in...and further you can go to your carrier and brick the ESN if you want. Not sure what the point of the law is, all it does is mandate that something exist that already exists.
 
".... manufactured after Wednesday and sold in the state."
....
If the software causes problems, do you have the choice to turn it off or uninstall it without breaking the law?

I bolded the important part - "Sold in the state".

I hypothetically could live in CA and buy my phone in say... Nevada. Even if it was illegal to remove it as the consumer (which it doesn't look like it is), if your phone doesn't have it in the first place then you committed no crime. You didn't remove it, it just wasn't there to begin with. ;)
 
Side note, I do laugh at the people in tin hats who say this is a govt. conspiracy to be able to shut down the cell network in the event of an uprising :rolleyes::rolleyes:

I'm pretty sure it would be easier to just take the few cell towers that cover your area offline than anything else. If the govt. really wanted to interrupt communications, they would do that or some other root component, not use software on a per device basis.
 
Side note, I do laugh at the people in tin hats who say this is a govt. conspiracy to be able to shut down the cell network in the event of an uprising :rolleyes::rolleyes:

I'm pretty sure it would be easier to just take the few cell towers that cover your area offline than anything else. If the govt. really wanted to interrupt communications, they would do that or some other root component, not use software on a per device basis.

It's not necessarily about govt control. It's the nanny state mentality where the gov passes a mandate for "our own good". Maybe it does sound like control. ;)
Besides, you don't want to take down cell service for everybody. :D
 
It is amazing the ways in which CA manages to find to spend money on things.
 
I dunno about Apple, but Android already has a tracking and device lockout option built in...and further you can go to your carrier and brick the ESN if you want. Not sure what the point of the law is, all it does is mandate that something exist that already exists.
You can clone a working esn into a blacklisted esn phone.
It's semi-illegal but easily done. Google tracks via carrier and esn. I haven't done it myself, but i'm fairly sure i can bypass google's device lockout by changing the esn.
 
Semi-illegal? Dude, that is the definition of cellphone cloning fraud...and is a federal felony.

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/105/hr2460/summary
Nope. That's modifying a phone so that it can receive service without paying.
If you change the esn and use it while paying for the service, the wording of that bill doesn't seem to apply. If you read definition #2 you'll see they're talking about scanning and stealing working esns and using the service illegally. Now a days carriers can detect multiple esns active at the same time and shut it all down. It used to be a big thing to have cell phone burners for drug dealers since they're hard to trace. Now with smart phones and 911-triangulation it's super easy to track everyone at all times.
 
Nope. That's modifying a phone so that it can receive service without paying.
If you change the esn and use it while paying for the service, the wording of that bill doesn't seem to apply. If you read definition #2 you'll see they're talking about scanning and stealing working esns and using the service illegally. Now a days carriers can detect multiple esns active at the same time and shut it all down. It used to be a big thing to have cell phone burners for drug dealers since they're hard to trace. Now with smart phones and 911-triangulation it's super easy to track everyone at all times.

If you steal a phone and alter the stolen hardware to run on a service...you've done several things...basically all of which are illegal. Stolen goods... Trafficking in stolen goods...defrauding your cellphone provider into allowing you to use a service with an unauthorized device...that of course presumes you're upstanding enough a cellphone thief to actually be paying the cellphone provider you're using for the service plan you're using...
 
If you steal a phone and alter the stolen hardware to run on a service...you've done several things...basically all of which are illegal. Stolen goods... Trafficking in stolen goods...defrauding your cellphone provider into allowing you to use a service with an unauthorized device...that of course presumes you're upstanding enough a cellphone thief to actually be paying the cellphone provider you're using for the service plan you're using...
So lets say i buy a phone with a bad esn. It's a at&t phone and i want to use it on tmobile. So i clone the esn from a prepaid phone that i throw away and put it on the phone i just bought. Tmobile allows it on the network and i'm paying for service. Which laws did i break exactly and why?
 
California has been on my 'never live ever' list for a long time. Maybe I'll visit, but I can't deal with the mentally disabled rising up into politics and creating laws.
 
California has been on my 'never live ever' list for a long time. Maybe I'll visit, but I can't deal with the mentally disabled rising up into politics and creating laws.

It used to be a nice place many years ago (speaking as a native born), but now it's one of the worse states on so many issues. If it wasn't for the weather, we would be losing people much faster than we already are. As for me, almost all my family and the wife's family (she is also a native Californian), live out here, so it would be difficult to move. However, as we are getting older, we have seriously talked about leaving the state when we retire, as I could likely retire many years earlier without all the high taxed and housing costs. If I sold my current home, I could buy a nicer home in some place like Texas, and still have enough left over to add over $15K/year to my retirement income.
 
California has been on my 'never live ever' list for a long time. Maybe I'll visit, but I can't deal with the mentally disabled rising up into politics and creating laws.

I'm sure any sane person could find issues with any state they go to. The requirement that phones sold in the state have a software kill switch (which is something that already exists, manufacturers just don't like to use it because they don't make as much money that way) being a point to keep you away from living here, then please stay the fuck out. Plus this state is already over populated as it is.
 
Apple Phones and Androids both already have this feature so legislating it doesn't make much of a difference.
 
How about requiring, that you enter your pass code to charge the thing?
 
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