New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has sent letters to the CEO’s of Sprint, Verizon Wireless, AT&T and United States Cellular Corporation (US Cellular). In the letters, Schneiderman is asking why the carriers are refusing to adopt a proposal from Samsung to offer a new smartphone feature called “Kill Switch”.
Schneiderman has questioned publicly whether the major carriers in the US are putting profit before safety. T-Mobile USA does not seem to be part of this investigation.
As the name suggests, Kill Switch enables customers to kill their smartphone, rendering it useless if the phone is lost or stolen. Schneiderman feels that wide adoption of this feature and if other manufacturers offered similar features it would curb theft of smartphones, a problem that runs rampant in major cities, and sometimes turns violent.
“For the past six months, the Secure Our Smartphone Initiative has called on the industry to put safety before profits and stop this violent epidemic. Considering this, it’s disturbing that the nation’s leading smartphone carriers knowingly dismissed technology that could save lives,” Schneiderman said in a statement. “My office will determine whether these companies allowed their business relationships to influence their ability to take immediate action against theft. In the meantime, our coalition will continue to demand that the industry take every available step to ensure the security of our citizens.”
Scneiderman is speaking of relationships between the cell phone carriers and the companies that provide customers insurance on their phones like Asurion the company that handles insurance for Verizon Wireless and other carriers.
The Legislative Gazette reports that Scneiderman grew concerned when all of the carriers identified above, decided to reject the feature at the same time.
The Attorney General has shown specific interest in the relationship between Verizon Wireless and Asurion, adding in his letter; “further scrutiny may be required to determine whether these business ties influenced the competitive behavior for Verizon Wireless, its business associates, or the other carriers.”
Sprint and Verizon respond.
Verizon and Sprint have responded. Verizon Wireless has said that they have not been offered the kill switch technology yet by Samsung or any other manufacturer.
Sprint spokesperson Crystal Davis told Long Island Newsday that has said that the Kansas City based company is working with handset manufacturers on such features but added that there are “”numerous concerns and technical details that need to be reviewed before such a feature is programmed on devices.”
image: BriefMobile
