Fans
of my blog, stealing a smartphone or any Apple product is totally not cool. Or
any other smartphone for that matter as noted in my blog article entitled
“How
smartphones are stolen and IMEI changed – Uninformed Jamaican Police Tracking
Jamaicans even as GOJ ID Registration by Telecom Providers needed”.
This
as the Activation Lock that Apple added to its smartphones, which is a hardware
and software countermeasure built into Apple iPhones since September 2013 has
worked as noted in the article “iPhone
thefts get walloped by kill feature”, officials say, published February 11,
2015 8:05 AM PST by Lance Whitney, CNET News.
In
fact, this initiative, called the SOS (Secure Our Smartphones) Initiative, has
worked so well over the past two (2) years, year-on-year, that thefts have been
trending down by the following percentages in major metropolitan cities where
Apple iPhone thefts are common:
1. 25%
in New York
2. 40%
in San Francisco
3. 50%
in London
The
news was announced by various officials including London Mayor Boris Johnson,
San Francisco district attorney George Gascon and New York state attorney
general Eric Schneiderman who had supported the SOS (Secure Our Smartphones)
Initiative in chief metropolitan cities.
These
are of course, in New York, San
Francisco and London that have struggled with Apple iPhone theft as noted in
the article “The
results are in: Smartphone kill switches decrease thefts by as much as 50
percent”, published February 11, 2015 By Malarie Gokey, DigitalTrends.
US
National Consumers League stats before Secure Our Smartphones (SOS) are
staggering:
1. 1.6m
handheld devices were stolen in the US in 2012
2. 50%
of Crimes in California in San Francisco and Oakland are related to Apple iPhone
thefts
Clearly,
the officials in London are the most pleased as noted in the article “London
smartphone theft drops by 50% after 'kill switch' introduction”, published
11 February 2015 10.23 GMT, published Samuel Gibbs, the UK Guardian. Top quote London Mayor
Boris Johnson, quote: “We have made real progress in tackling the smartphone theft
epidemic that was affecting many major cities just two years ago”.
Apple iPhone thefts
down 50% in London - How Activation Lock prevents Apple iPhone theft
Introduced
with iOS 7 in September 2013 along with the Apple iPhone 5S as noted in my blog article entitled
“Apple
has launched the Apple iPhone 5S and 5C on Tuesday September 10th 2013 - Apple
iPhone Strategy is to Go Global to beat Samsung”, Activation Lock requires
your Apple ID and password before someone can erase and reactivate your device.
Thus,
the procedure in my blog article entitled
“How
to Unlock your Apple iPhone - Backup, Erase and Restore with The Bag Man being
iOS Setup Assistant will not work if you cannot provide your Apple ID and
password”, making thieves basically unable to resell their stolen Apple
iPhone.
These
latest stats indicates that Apple has basically locked down security on the
Apple iPhone an serves as an attractive bit of new that promotes Apple as being
concerned about security not just about just making profits. The fact that
they've implemented this on their own without prodding from external forces
sets them apart from other smartphone makers using Google Android as well as
Microsoft Windows Phone.
By
contrast, it was way into June 2014 before Samsung implemented a similar
Killswitch, because thieves began stealing Samsung smartphones instead of Apple
iPhone as noted in the article “Thieves
now stealing fewer iPhones, more Samsung phones”, published June 19, 2014
10:48 AM PDTby Chris Matyszczyk, CNET News.
It
was at that point that Google Android and Microsoft Windows Phone committed to
adding killswitch software and hardware to their smartphones, rendering useless
when stolen as noted in the article “Android,
Windows Phone to add kill switch to thwart theft”, published June 19, 2014
7:48 AM PDT by Don Reisinger, CNET News.
Both
Google and Microsoft say that they will add kill switches to the next versions
of their mobile software as noted in the article “Google,
Microsoft pledge to add ‘kill switches’ in smartphones”, published June 20,
2014 By Christian Brazil Bautista, Digitaltrends.
CTIA (Cellular Telephone Industries Association) has also strong-armed a whos-who
of companies in the Smartphone Industry to commit to this killswitch
initiative:
1. Apple
2. AT&T
3. Google
4. HTC
5. Huawei
6. Microsoft
7. Motorola
8. Nokia
9. Samsung
10. Sprint
11. T-Mobile
12. Verizon
This
as it's now being made mandatory in states like California thanks to a bill that
was passed requiring smartphone maker as well as Telecom Provider to have some
kind of anti-theft protection baked into their smartphones as noted in the
article “California
Senate approves smartphone ‘kill-switch’ bill”, published May 8, 2014 9:58
AM PDT by Richard Nieva, CNET News.
In
the case of Google, it's now baked into Lollipop and is called Factory Reset
Protection. Samsung has the feature in some smartphones and it's called
Reactivation Lock. Microsoft is planning to have a killswitch by June 2015.
CTIA moves towards Killswitch
– Jamaican Telecom Provider will have to follow suit
Still,
this developments stateside bodes well for Smartphone users here in Jamaica; clearly
the Apple iPhone is the more secure, if that's your main concern when buying a
smartphone. But it also puts a lot of
pressure on Telecom Provider here in Jamaica, specifically Digicel and LIME, to
implement similar features.
That’s
a good thing for us Jamaicans as we await the coming of MNP (Mobile Number Portability)
and LNP (Landline Number Portability) by Sunday May 31st 2015 as
noted in my blog
article entitled “Minister
Paulwell affirms MNP, LNP Coming May 31st 2015 - Why NPA TPPR, IXP Deadline and
VoIP Registration herald MNP, LNP for NANP Number Ranges and Competition”
Now
all we're waiting on is for Telecom Providers in Jamaica to join with an
international move to implement a remote killswitch via the Telecom Provider
Network to block not just the SIM as described in my blog article entitled
“How
to Register your SIM Card and get the PUK1 and access Digicel’s Phone Calling
Records” but also the smartphone from being used on another Network.
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