Cali’s Gov. Brown Signs ‘First of Its Kind’ Cellphone Kill Switch Bill

California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) yesterday signed
into law a cellphone “kill switch” bill that The Week

describes as “the first law of its kind in the country.”

The bill requires that smartphones sold in the state beginning
July 2015 be equipped with an anti-theft “kill switch” that can
remotely render the device inoperable if stolen.

S.B.
962, which was introduced by Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco)
and passed 28-8 earlier this month, is unique among state-level
kill switch bills, because it “requires that the phones come with
the kill switch feature set to enabled under the default settings.
Consumers would have to change the setting to disable the feature
if they don’t want the protection,”
explains the San Francisco Chronicle.

“I think as any number of issues here in California, when we act
it becomes the de facto way business is done across the
country,” says Leno,
who believes that his bill will help end the “epidemic”
of smartphone thefts. “About 3.1 million American consumers were
victims of smart phone theft in 2013,” according to
Consumer Reports. That’s a lot, but not that much in the grand
scheme of things. There are an estimated 327,577,529 mobile
phones (not even counting the other
mobile devices) in use in the U.S., which is more phones than
citizens.

The state stands to make some cash by passing the law. One
provision declares that “the knowing retail sale of a smartphone in
California in violation of [the law] may be subject to a civil
penalty of not less than five hundred dollars ($500), nor more than
two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), per smartphone sold in
California in violation.”

Although it seems like a step forward now, legislation moves at
a much slower pace than technology, so S.B. 962 regulations may be
holding back future innovations by the time the ink dries. The
cellphone industry isn’t opposed to anti-theft tools;
there exist plenty
of them already.

“Today’s action was unnecessary given the breadth of action the
industry has taken,” a representative from the Cellular
Telecommunications Industry Associated (CTIA) said
yesterday. When the bill was approved by the state senate, the
CTIA issued a
statement in opposition, noting some foreseeable downsides:

We urge the Governor to not sign this bill, since uniformity in
the wireless industry created tremendous benefits for wireless
consumers, including lower costs and phenomenal innovation. State
by state technology mandates, such as this one, stifle those
benefits and are detrimental to wireless consumers.

New York, Illinois, and Rhode Island are considering kill switch
bills, and Minnesota passed one this year.