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The proposed legislation in the U.S. mandating that smartphone manufacturers and telecom companies collaborate to enable kill-switch technology in mobile devices has grown in importance for lawmakers and consumers. On a state level, California has introduced legislation that would require phone companies that sell phones sold in California on and after January 1, 2025 to include anti-theft technology. Legislation has also been introduced on a federal level that would require smartphones to come equipped with technology that would allow them to be disabled remotely. But for carriers, this legislation would rob them of much consumer spending on new smartphones, so naturally they heavily oppose any such laws. New research highlights exactly why carriers are against such legislation.
VISUAL CONTEXT: SMARTPHONE THEFT BY TIME OF DAY
Source: IDG News Service
A study conducted by William Duckworth, associate professor of statistics, data science, and analytics at Creighton University has concluded that the mandatory inclusion of kill-switch technology in smartphones could save consumers up to $2.6 billion a year — obviously a loss for all the carriers and phone manufacturers that would be missing out on those billions of dollars not spent on new devices and phone plans. Duckworth’s poll of 1,200 consumers resulted in overwhelming figures of people who believe that carriers should allow all consumers to disable a phone if stolen, that a kill switch would reduce smartphone theft, and that they should not be asked to pay extra money for the ability to disable a stolen phone.
PC World quotes Duckworth:
I thought a high percentage would say yes, but it was a little surprising and maybe a bigger number than I would have guessed . . . I view losing a credit card as a similar frame of reference. If it is stolen or lost, I can call the credit card company and get it canceled and they can issue a new one. There is safety there. My smartphone has tons of information and accounts in there, so the idea that I could call and say ‘kill it’ is a very reasonable thing.
Indeed, carriers may be outweighed by the majority support for kill-switch technology mandates. Especially since it is being pushed on a state and federal level. With numbers like those of Duckworth’s published and quite obviously pointing out that kill-switch technology is better for consumers, carrier opposition could be drowned out. The telecommunications lobbying group — the CTIA — is going to have to come up with some reasons for why carriers and phone makers should not be forced to create and abide by kill switches in order to present any solid opposing argument.
