Senators propose smartphone antitheft 'kill switch' bill

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On the heels of proposed California legislation, federal lawmakers also get on board with a bill requiring security features on all cell phones.

Lawmakers' bids to require a smartphone "kill switch" seem to be gaining momentum.

Following the proposal of a California bill, a handful of senators have now proposed federal legislation to require carriers to provide a security feature on all cell phones that would render the devices inoperable if stolen.

The Smartphone Theft Prevention Act is being led by Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), along with three other senators, Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii). The idea is for users to be able to de-activate and remotely wipe their personal information from their phones if lost or stolen. This kill switch would be free to users.

"Cell phone theft has become a big business for thieves looking to cash in on these devices and any valuable information they contain, costing consumers more than $30 billion every year and endangering countless theft victims," Klobuchar said in a statement. "This legislation will help eliminate the incentives for criminals to target smartphones by empowering victims to take steps to keep their information private; protect their identity and finances; and render the phone inoperable to the thieves."

Nearly one in three robberies in the US involves cell phone theft, according to the Federal Communications Commission. And major cities have it even worse. In both New York City and San Francisco, more than 50 percent of the robberies involve the theft of a smartphone -- what's referred to as "Apple Picking." In Oakland, an estimated 75 percent of street robberies involve a cell phone.

California's kill switch bill was introduced last week -- the point of this bill is to ensure the security feature is preloaded on all phones. Both the California and federal proposals build on the Secure Our Smartphones initiative founded by New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón.

While lawmakers are working to get kill switches installed on smartphones, they've met resistance from carriers and the cellular industry trade group CTIA. The CTIA says kill switches carry too many risks in regard to hacking and privacy. Instead, the group says, criminalizing smartphone tampering and creating a national database of stolen cell phones should be sufficient in deterring smartphone robberies.