Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., introduced a kill-switch bill. ...
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., introduced a kill-switch bill. S-2032 would “require mobile service providers and mobile device manufacturers to give consumers the ability to remotely delete data from mobile devices and render such devices inoperable,” according to a bill text…
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the senator’s office shared with us. The legislation, to be known as the Smartphone Theft Prevention Action, is eight pages long and is not yet posted online. Klobuchar chairs the Senate Antitrust and Consumer Rights Subcommittee and told us last week that she plans a hearing on the issue before the end of the month. Late last year, she queried several carriers on behalf of her subcommittee about kill-switch technology, calling it a competition issue. Her office declined to provide additional details Thursday. The bill would waive the kill-switch requirement for low-cost, voice-only cellphones that only have limited data functions, such as for text messaging. Carriers would not be allowed to charge subscribers for the kill-switch feature. The bill’s requirements would apply to all cellphones made in or imported into the U.S. starting Jan. 1, 2015. It has three Democratic co-sponsors, Sens. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, Barbara Mikulski of Maryland and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, and has been referred to the Commerce Committee. CTIA voiced concerns about the legislation, preferring the approach of Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “While Senator Klobuchar and CTIA are of like mind when it comes to wanting to prevent the theft of wireless devices, we clearly disagree on how to accomplish that goal,” CTIA Vice President-Government Affairs Jot Carpenter told us in a statement. “Rather than impose technology mandates, a better approach would be to enact Senator Schumer’s legislation to criminalize tampering with mobile device identifiers. This would build on the industry’s efforts to create the stolen device databases, give law enforcement another tool to combat criminal behavior, and leave carriers, manufacturers, and software developers free to create new, innovative loss and theft prevention tools for consumers who want them."