Proactive Beats Reactive
by Miki SaxonYears ago when I bought a hardware firewall an engineer friend told me that it would cost around a nickel (or it may have been 25 cents) to add the feature to a computer’s motherboard.
However, doing that would disrupt the hardware business, so it was/is easier to leave users as easy prey to hackers.
Which brings us to California Governor Jerry Brown, who just signed a law requiring all smartphones to have a kill switch by July, 2015.
CTIA, a trade organization for the wireless industry, thinks the legislation is a terrible idea.
“Uniformity in the wireless industry created tremendous benefits for wireless consumers, including lower costs and phenomenal innovation,” said Jamie Hastings, vice president of external and state affairs for CTIA, in a statement. “State by state technology mandates, such as this one, stifle those benefits and are detrimental to wireless consumers.”
Here’s a simple solution to the annoyance of uneven legislation.
Add “anti-theft technology turned on by default,” as required by the California law, to all phones wherever they are being sold.
Of course, if Apple, Samsung and Motorola Mobility, etc., had responded proactively to calls for a kill switch new laws wouldn’t be necessary.
Flickr image credit: One Way Stock