Watch above: What is a cellphone “kill switch” and why do Canadians want them to be mandatory? Shirlee Engel reports.
TORONTO – Cellphone theft has become a hot button issue for consumers and law enforcement agencies across Canada, opening the debate for so-called cellphone “kill switches” north of the U.S. border.
On Thursday Toronto Police arrested five men in relation to a cellphone theft ring investigation targeting high-end smartphones from Apple and Samsung.
Police allege the suspects would target unattended bags and jackets to steal the smartphones and later repackage and resell the stolen devices.
In Vancouver, police say the crime has reached “epidemic levels” and Toronto Police have warned the crime can often become violent. Robberies became so bad at one Toronto-area high school that students began hiding their devices to avoid confrontations and assaults.
“It got to the point where I would put my phone in my sock,” said Toronto-area student John Masangkay.
WATCH: Toronto Police announced Thursday they had busted a large-scale cellphone theft racket, including over 200 stolen phones at one location
The volume of cellphone related robberies in Canada has prompted police agencies and the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) to investigate the option of cellphone “kill switches” that would protect users from information theft and help crack down on the problem.
“Having the ability to remotely erase it and render it useless is a convenience that we probably should be looking towards,” NDP MP Mike Sullivan told Global National’s Shirlee Engel.
Last year, Samsung Electronics proposed installing built-in anti-theft measures in their devices that would render stolen or lost phones useless. The kill switch would wipe the phone clean of all data, ensuring the user’s private information is protected.
But in November 2013 the biggest carriers in the U.S. rejected the proposal, reportedly over concerns it would allow hackers to disable a user’s phone.
READ MORE: My cellphone has been stolen, what do I do: How the cellphone blacklist works
U.S. District Attorney George Gascon — after reviewing emails between a senior vice-president at Samsung and a software developer — alleged carriers are reluctant to sell phones with built-in kill switches in fear of losing billions of dollars in insurance premiums.
According to the Associated Press, one email said Samsung had pre-installed kill switch software in some smartphones ready for shipment, but carriers ordered their removal as a standard feature.
“These emails suggest that the carriers are rejecting a technological solution so they can continue to shake down their customers for billions of dollars in (theft) insurance premiums,” Gascon said. “I’m incensed. … This is a solution that has the potential to end the victimization of their customers.”
In March, New York officials announced they would support a bill requiring smartphone and tablet creators to have pre-installed kill switches, joining California in the fight for legislation.
The U.S. senate is also pushing its own bill.
Because the Canadian market is smaller than the U.S., the decision for manufactures to build phones with a built-in kill switch will likely depend on whether the U.S. makes it law.
READ MORE: U.S. carriers reject ‘kill switch’ for stolen phones
Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair has said he supports the idea, and the CWTA is now studying the option; but many questions remain about how the technology would actually work.
“Who would be liable for that kill switch, how it could be used, who could use it, who could launch a kill switch, how many phones could you kill at the same time? Those are all important questions that have not been answered by anyone,” said Bernard Lord, president of the CWTA.
Apple, for example, already offers a kill switch-like feature for its iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices.
The app called “Find My iPhone” allows users to remotely set up a pass code to lock their devices if one wasn’t already set up, as well as remotely erase all contents and settings on the phone, returning it to factory settings.
However, this only protects the user’s data – it does not stop a thief from using or re-selling the device.
In October in the CWTA launched a so-called “blacklist” for stolen devices in hopes of targeting cellphone theft.
The blacklist stores the International Mobile Equipment Identity number of devices that have been reported lost or stolen as of September 30, 2013, preventing them from connecting to Canadian service provider networks.
Once a device has been added to the blacklist it will not be able to be activated by a carrier for use – rendering it useless for web browsing, phone calls or texting.
– With files from Global National’s Shirlee Engel and the Associated Press
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