The addition of remote “kill switches” has seen mobile phone theft fall significantly in San Francisco, New York and London, according to an announcement by officials in the three cities.The number of smartphones stolen has fallen by 50% in London, 27% in San Francisco and 16% in New York in 2014.A requirement that new smartphones be equipped with a kill switch in the event they are stolen was signed into law in California in August, with other US states now following suit. The law applies to smartphones made on or after July 1, 2015, and sold in California after that date. Minnesota was the first state to sign a “kill-switch” bill into law.Observers also say biometric security is playing an important role:”iPhones once worth big bucks on street, are now worthless. Thanks to the fingerprint recognition technology and iCloud fix those stolen phones are basically pretty paperweights,” wrote CBS in an editorial.San Francisco district attorney George Gascon said: “The wireless industry continues to roll out sophisticated new features, but preventing their own customers from being the target of a violent crime is the coolest technology they can bring to market.”Apple added a kill switch – known as Activation Lock – in September 2013. Samsung followed in April last year, and Google made it a standard feature on Android with the November release of Lollipop.
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