Kill switch for smart phones

[halffull]

TWO US officials have announced plans to introduce legislation requiring smart phones to have a "kill switch" that would render stolen or lost devices inoperable.

California State Senator Mark Leno and San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon announced on Thursday that the bill they believe will be the first of its kind in the United States will be formally introduced in January.

US law enforcement officials have been demanding that manufacturers create kill switches to combat surging smart phone theft across the country.

"One of the top catalysts for street crime in many California cities is smart phone theft, and these crimes are becoming increasingly violent," Leno said.

"We cannot continue to ignore our ability to utilise existing technology to stop cellphone thieves in their tracks..."

http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/news/world/us-bill-requires-smart-phone-kill-switch/story-fnjbnxol-1226787091767


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[TargeT]

what a great way to shut down video at riots or protests or of stuff you don't want someone with a cellphone camera capturing, or shut down communication in an area. This is a terrible idea.

[carriellbee]

I think we all know what they really plan to do with this kill switch.

[spiritguide]

Politicians want to stifle any communications that are contrary to their corrupt agenda. They don't want light shining on their dark deeds. Vote em all out and make all government folks subject to the policies they institute including no tax dollars for their opulent retirement programs and bonus scams. IMHO

Peace!

[Milneman]

Let's beat them to the punch and start talking to each other face to face...remember how we used to do that?

*sigh*

I was in a bar not long ago, and crowds of people were just sitting, texting each other. What happens when the power goes out?

Don't let us forget the basic survival skills...like gardening...and smiling, and knowing people when you look them in the eye and introduce yourself.

[Tesla_WTC_Solution]

Apparently the Tweet is mightier than the sword?

:(

[Crystine]

My dad used to operate a ham radio. Then eventually a C B. can TPTB shut that down too? And if they can, maybe it wouldn't be as easy as throwing a few switches.




Right after I posted, the movie FREQUENCY came to mind.

[Operator]

What a great idea !!

Let's start to build in these things in everything that could go wrong as soon as it is 'out of our hands'.
We begin with governments. As soon as the elections are over and show they're not keeping their
promises, go their own way so to speak, we'll thrown three red crosses on the 'score board' and invite
the next candidate to come forward. :madgrin:

[778 neighbour of some guy]

what a great way to shut down video at riots or protests or of stuff you don't want someone with a cellphone camera capturing, or shut down communication in an area. This is a terrible idea.

Ah well, I still have an old 'dumb' Nokia laying around that makes video's too, that should do the trick just fine all the same, how about an actual Handycam I have one of those too, how are they going to kill that one or my small 16 mpx finepix camera ( smaller then my smartphone), I am not out of options just yet, same goes for at least about a billion other people too, and that is a pretty conservative estimate if you ask me, ghehehe;).

[778 neighbour of some guy]

Apparently the Tweet is mightier than the sword?

:(

WTF is a Tweet, damn I'm old:rofl:

[TigaHawk]

They can already do this by blocking the IMEI of the device. What an imei block does varies with the device. some it just blocks the phone in particular from getting a signal/connection with any carrier. Some go a step further and "brick" the device so it's worthless.

So - they can already combat stolen phones just fine. What are the specifics of this kill switch they are wanting? I am leaning towards the ability to brick all devices with a set signal - but keeps the device listening so it can be unbricked and returned to normal operation when convenient for them.

As others noted - they could send the command specific cell phone towers causing a blackout at say a protest, so chances of what is really happening from the protestors point of view being shown to others get knocked down substantially - as they'd only have to look for people with video recorders and digital cameras.

[toad]

what a great way to shut down video at riots or protests or of stuff you don't want someone with a cellphone camera capturing, or shut down communication in an area. This is a terrible idea.

Yeah they already shut down service. They killed the communications on a couple of occupy protests in london and somewheres else.

You can already put fairly decent software on your phone to pinpoint your phone and take photos/record audio from anyone who steals your phone.

[gittarpikk]

My dad used to operate a ham radio. Then eventually a C B. can TPTB shut that down too? And if they can, maybe it wouldn't be as easy as throwing a few switches.






Right after I posted, the movie FREQUENCY came to mind.

No they actually cannot kill any CB or Ham communication... they can interfere...but hams know how to build transmitters /receivers and could modify or improvise as needed. If you have seen an actual hams shop, you'll more than likely see he is 'eat up with it' as it is a hobby and he has a lot of equipment and means/methods to work on them
CB is a crystal controlled frequency...and is more prone to an interference signal as they cannot slide off frequency...but Ham equipment has both crystal controlled as well as older VFO or 'Variable frequency Oscillator) and can just as easily slide the frequency above or below the interference frequency....and continue as if nothing happened.

Then there are the sidebands...and other forms of modulation...which can get through even on the same frequency as the one being jammed.

[Crystine]

Dad still has his stuff. He has 100 foot tower. I guess he should dust his stuff off. When I was a kid we had to learn morse code. Could come in handy.

We built our own. But the old technology........ tubes and capacitors and resistors. Transistors. We helped with the soldering.

[conk]

Apparently the Tweet is mightier than the sword?

:(

WTF is a Tweet, damn I'm old:rofl:It's the utterence of a little yellow bird with a big head. He's always running from a talking cat with a lisp.

Right, like the authorities are worried about cell phone theft. Too funny!

[TargeT]

Dad still has his stuff. He has 100 foot tower. I guess he should dust his stuff off. When I was a kid we had to learn morse code. Could come in handy.

We built our own. But the old technology........ tubes and capacitors and resistors. Transistors. We helped with the soldering.

FYI, you can do data over "Ham" radio... we do it in the military (it's not super fast, but good enough for text communication and can be encrypted).



Apparently the Tweet is mightier than the sword?

:(

WTF is a Tweet, damn I'm old:rofl:

https://twitter.com/

a tweet is from twitter, a short message (limited to 256 characters (i think)); a way to keep people updated with exactly what you are doing every second of the day.... and people actually read them.

My life is busy enough as it is, but hey.. social media right?:rolleyes: