{"id":26160,"date":"2014-06-20T07:39:17","date_gmt":"2014-06-20T07:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=26160"},"modified":"2014-06-20T07:39:17","modified_gmt":"2014-06-20T07:39:17","slug":"android-and-windows-to-get-kill-switch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=26160","title":{"rendered":"Android and Windows to get &#8216;kill switch&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"story_continues_1\">Google and Microsoft will add a &#8220;kill-switch&#8221; feature to their Android and Windows phone operating systems.<\/p>\n<p>The feature is a method of making a handset completely useless if it is stolen, rendering a theft pointless.<\/p>\n<p>Authorities have been urging tech firms to take steps to help curb phone theft and argued that a kill-switch feature can help resolve the problem.<\/p>\n<p>Apple and Samsung, two of the biggest phone makers, offer a similar feature on some of their devices.<\/p>\n<p>The move by Google and Microsoft means that kill switches will now be a part of the three most popular phone operating systems in the world.<\/p>\n<p>Growing problem<\/p>\n<p id=\"story_continues_2\">Smartphone theft has become a big problem across the world. According to a report by US authorities:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Some 3.1 million mobile devices were stolen in the US in 2013, nearly double the number of devices stolen in 2012<\/li>\n<li>One in three Europeans experienced the theft or loss of a mobile device in 2013<\/li>\n<li>In South Korea mobile device theft increased five-fold between 2009 and 2012<\/li>\n<li>In Colombia criminals stole over one million devices in 2013<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In an attempt to tackle the issue, policymakers have launched an initiative called Secure our Smartphones.<\/p>\n<p>As part of it, they have urged technology firms to take steps to make it less attractive for robbers to steal mobile devices.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;An activated kill switch converts an easy-to-sell, high-value multimedia device into a jumble of plastic and glass, drastically reducing its street value,&#8221; the report by New York Attorney General said.<\/p>\n<p id=\"story_continues_3\">Authorities claim that Apple&#8217;s feature &#8211; dubbed Activation Lock &#8211; which it introduced on all iPhones running the iOS 7 operating system in September last year, has helped reduce theft substantially.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ag.ny.gov\/pdfs\/SOS%201%20YEAR%20REPORT.pdf\">According to a report by the New York State Attorney General<\/a>, in the first five months of 2014 the theft of Apple devices fell by 17% in New York City.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile iPhone robberies fell 24% in London and 38% in San Francisco in the six months after Apple introduced the feature, compared to the previous six months.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;During the same period, thefts of other popular mobile devices increased,&#8221; the report says.<\/p>\n<p>Manoj Menon, managing director of consulting firm Frost &amp; Sullivan said the move was a step in the right direction.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is a fantastic move and will go a long way in helping authorities come one step closer to realising a vision of zero theft of mobile phone,&#8221; he told the BBC.<\/p>\n<p>But he added that it was &#8220;not a foolproof system&#8221; as thieves &#8220;will find a way to monetise the accessories and parts of a phone&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>However, he said the market for parts and accessories was relatively small and the kill switch &#8220;does substantially reduce the financial incentive of stealing a device&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Google and Microsoft will add a &#8220;kill-switch&#8221; feature to their Android and Windows phone operating systems. The feature is a method of making a handset completely useless if it is stolen, rendering a theft pointless. Authorities have been urging tech firms to take steps to help curb phone theft and argued that a kill-switch feature [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":26161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[18],"class_list":["post-26160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dr-akwasi-osei"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}