Ahead of today's "smartphone summit" on gadget theft with four of the top phone makers, New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón announced that they will team up with various state and local officials for a "secure our smartphone" (S.O.S.) initiative.
Schneiderman and Gascón are partnering with other attorneys general, district attorneys, police chiefs, city comptrollers, public safety activists, and consumer advocates for S.O.S. to find ways to reduce the number of smartphone-related crimes.
"The epidemic of violent street crime involving the theft and resale of mobile devices is a very real and growing threat in communities all across America," Schneiderman said in a statement. "According to reports, roughly 113 smartphones are stolen or lost each minute in the United States, with too many of those thefts turning violent. This nationwide coalition of leaders is committed to doing everything in our power to encourage industry to be good corporate citizens and take responsible steps to ensure the safety of our consumers."
Specifically, the coalition will:- Analyze the patterns, causes, and trends associated with gadget thefts
- Investigate whether phone makers can add some sort of "kill switch" to stolen devices, which might eliminate the economic incentive for theft
- Study how device theft impacts decision making by phone makers
- If necessary, investigate wrongdoing on the part of manufacturers in this area
Last month, Schneiderman penned letters to Apple, Motorola, Samsung, and Microsoft asking them to collaborate with his office to come up with ways to deter criminals from swiping their most popular gadgets. He later announced that he and Gascón would meet with representatives from all four companies today in New York for a "summit" on smartphone safety.
During its WWDC keynote on Monday, Apple unveiled a few security features that will be available in iOS 7. If a thief tries to delete "Find My iPhone" or wipes the phone, for example, the phones will not reactivate unless your Apple ID is entered correctly. (For more, see New Features in iOS 7 Make iPhone More Secure Than Ever.)
In response to Apple's announcement, Schneiderman and Gascón said they would have to "reserve judgment on the activation lock feature until we can understand its actual functionality."
"We look forward to having a substantive conversation with Apple and other manufacturers at our Smartphone Summit on Thursday," the duo said on Monday. "We are hopeful that the cell phone industry will imbed persistent technology that is free to consumers that will make a phone inoperable once stolen, even if the device is off, the SIM card is removed, or the phone is modified by a thief to avoid detection."
In September, the New York Police Department released crime statistics that found 11,447 thefts of Apple products between Jan. 1 and Sept. 23 - a 40 percent jump from 2011. Other major crimes - which totaled 79,335 - saw a 4 percent increase during the same time period, an NYPD spokesman said.
In April, New York police reportedly formed a team dedicated to working with Apple to track down thieves. Last year, the city also launched the "Anti-Apple Picking Campaign," encouraging customers to register their iDevice with the NYPD. At the iPhone 5 launch in September, for example, police were stationed at New York Apple stores to register new iPhones.