By Robert Harding
Federal, state and local officials hope more smartphone manufacturers will get on board with their proposal to address the rising number of smartphone thefts in central New York and across the country.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman held a press conference Friday at Syracuse City Hall to laud U.S. Rep. Dan Maffei for cosponsoring a bill, the Smartphone Theft Prevention Act, that would require smartphone manufacturers to install "kill switches."
If a phone is stolen, the phone's owner could use the switch to disable the device. Schneiderman compared the kill switch to canceling a stolen credit card.
Schneiderman said his office first learned of the problem in early 2013, when it was revealed that 1.6 million Americans were victims of smartphone theft in 2012. Last year, in New York City, smartphone thefts increased by 40 percent.
Some of the victims were assaulted or even killed during the robberies, according to Schneiderman.
"We've had people in my office who lost family members who were shot for their smartphones," he said.
Once the phones are stolen, thieves clean the smartphones -- known as "jailbreaking" -- and ship the devices to other countries. Some phones can be sold for as much as $2,000 on the black market.
To address the problem, Schneiderman said every smartphone manufacturer needs to install kill switches on their devices.
"The staggering statistics tell you a story of a crime wave that can be stopped by the manufacturers of smartphones, but they have declined, up until now, to do so," he said.
According to Schneiderman, despite having the technology, smartphone manufacturers were reluctant to install kill switches because they believed it should be the customer's choice. But his office soon learned that these companies make $30 billion a year replacing lost or stolen phones.
"That seems to have stood to be a probably more serious reason for their reluctance than concern over customer choice," he said.
Schneiderman said the best leverage to encourage smartphone manufacturers to install kill switches is the Smartphone Theft Prevention Act supported by Maffei, D-Syracuse.
Maffei hopes smartphone makers will do their part to address the growing problem, with or without legislative action.
"If the companies won't do it themselves, then we've got to make sure people are protected," he said. "I'm hopeful that they will. I think that they will see that we're serious and that they will."
Two of the largest smartphone manufacturers have taken steps to combat smartphone theft. Schneiderman said Apple started installing activation locks on their phones last summer and Samsung recently announced they will install a kill switch on its newest phones.
"We cannot rest until every manufacturer has got an opt-out, not an opt-in, activation lock and we can all be safe," he said.
Along with Schneiderman and Maffei, Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner, Syracuse Police Chief Frank Fowler and state Sen. David Valesky attended the press conference.
Schneiderman announced that Valesky, D-Oneida, has joined the Secure Our Smartphones coalition. The coalition, which is led by Schneiderman, was formed to combat smartphone theft.
Fowler and Miner are also members of the coalition.
In Syracuse, Miner said city officials learned from data they collected that there was a "rampant uptick" in smartphone thefts. The city shared the information with Schneiderman's office.
With Maffei and Valesky also involved, Miner said officials from the federal government down to local and state leaders are looking for ways to address the rise in the number of smartphone thefts.
"This is a perfect example of where you're seeing all levels of government working together, using data, to drive a solution that is going to impact people's lives for the betterment of our community," she said.