Requiring your smartphone to self destruct

Smartphones are irresistible, but that also goes for the crooks.

“In most major cities, anywhere from 30 to 40 percent of crime these days, is the stealing of smart phones, and in some cases, people get hurt,” explains Rep. Jose Serrano (D-NY).

So Serrano is sponsoring a bill requiring that smart phones be equipped with a kill switch – so that any thief who steals one ends up with what’s called a brick – a phone that can’t be used, and therefore, can’t be sold even on the black market.

“Thieves are not going to stop stealing smartphones until they know that the smartphones are all worthless,” said New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

The wireless industry is reluctant, warning that if bad guys figure out the kill code, they could potentially cut off everyone’s phone. And of course there are people who see what the NSA is capable of, and worry that the good guys could do it too.

But what do you say to someone like Paul Boken of St. Louis – whose daughter Megan was in her car, talking to her Mom on her smartphone, when a robber shot and killed her?

He told CBS’s Elaine Quijano it was the phone that cost her her life. “These people had stolen cellphones before they were going down the street, looking for someone to get their cellphone. They had experience taking cellphones and selling them. So the fact that she was on her cellphone is what made her a target.”

The two culprits pleaded guilty in that case, but it’s gotten so bad that in 2012 1.6 million Americas were targeted for their smartphones, often violently.

New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton accused the cell phone companies of greed – pure and simple. “Corporate greed, that’s what this is all about. They’re making $30, $40, maybe $50 billion a year on new phone sales.”

Yet we all know what will happen – the crooks will just find something else to shot us for – so I would only suggest that if we have the technology to instantly and reliably and unhackably disable smart phones when they’re stolen – could we maybe get at the real problem, and get a reliable smart gun – so that if it’s stolen, or borrowed, it too, turns into a brick?

We could call that a live switch.