By Raz Godelnik , Source: TriplePundit
smartphones
You love your cell phone and can’t spend a minute without it, right? If the answer is yes, here are three facts you should be aware of.

First, in 2012 1.6 million Americans were the victims of smartphone-related crimes. Second, one in three robberies in the U.S. include the theft of a mobile device. Third, cell phone thefts are now the single biggest source of property crime in many American cities.

In other words, not only is your beloved phone in danger of getting stolen, but it can also get you into trouble, from being the target of a robbery to even getting murdered in some cases.

Is this inevitable? Not necessarily, according to a growing number of policymakers and law enforcements officers. They believe consumers deserve better and that a “kill switch” that would make smartphones useless when stolen is the best solution to the “epidemic of violent smartphone thefts,” as New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman calls it.

But not everyone is convinced a kill switch this is such a great idea. Take, for example, the wireless carriers. They believe that there are better ways to take action against smartphone theft. Last year CTIA, the carriers’ trade group, launched a national phone-tracking database, and it supports tougher penalties for smartphone thieves.

“We encourage consumers to use currently available apps and features that remotely wipe, track and lock their devices in case they are lost or stolen, and our members are continuing to explore and offer new technologies to address these crimes, while not inadvertently creating a ‘trap door’ that hackers and cybercriminals could exploit,” CTIA said recently in a statement.

While the CTIA would probably like to frame this debate as a discussion between experts about the effectiveness of different measures or security issues, others see an entirely different issue at stake here. New York’s Police Commissioner William Bratton made it very clear earlier this month, saying the reason the mobile industry hasn’t already adopted a kill switch is because of “corporate greed.”

“Profit. That’s what this is all about,” Bratton said. “They’re making $30, $40, maybe $50 billion dollars a year on new phone sales … They’re making a fortune on this. And they don’t want to lose it.”

This is not just about sales of new phones, but also about keeping expenses low in the case of the wireless carriers. Lawrence Pingree, research director for market researcher Gartner, told SFGate.com that wireless companies see an all-out push against theft as too expensive. “The main goal for carriers is to keep support costs low and encourage subscribership, so antitheft technology could cause support nightmares,” he said.

Read the full article at: TriplePundit