New California law requires anti-theft feature in smartphones

• First of its kind, law meant to deter phone thefts

• Consumers can opt out of anti-theft feature 

SACRAMENTO, California – A first-of-its-kind law will be in effect on July 1 next year requiring all smartphones sold in California to come pre-equipped with theft-deterring technological solutions

Governor Jerry Brown on August 25 signed into law SB 962, the Smartphone Theft Prevention Act.

The new law requires manufacturers to deploy the solutions, in an opt-out manner, which can render stolen devices useless.

Sponsored by Attorney George Gascón and introduced by State Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), it is a response to an epidemic of smartphone thefts. The bill had unanimous law enforcement support from groups all over the globe.

Beyond the public safety benefits, the requirement is predicted to save consumers more than $3.4 billion each year, savings that come at the expense of insurance and wireless industry profits.

The international Secure Our Smartphones Coalition (SOS) was created in June of 2013 and is co-chaired by District Attorney George Gascón, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and London Mayor Boris Johnson.

“ Soon, stealing a smartphone won’t be worth the trouble, and these violent street crimes will be a thing of the past.  The devices we use every day will no longer make us targets for violent criminals,” Gascon stated.

“California has just put smartphone thieves on notice,” said Senator Leno, D-San Francisco. “Our efforts will effectively wipe out the incentive to steal smartphones and curb this crime of convenience, which is fueling street crime and violence within our communities.”

“My family is very pleased that the Smartphone Theft Prevention Act has become law in California,” said Paul Boken, father of Megan Boken. Megan tragically lost her life during a smartphone robbery in St. Louis in 2012.

According to Consumer Reports, the number of victims of smartphone theft in the United States nearly doubled from 1.6 million to 3.1 million between 2012 and 2013, a 94 percent increase in a single year.

An astounding 1.6 million phones were reported stolen in Columbia in just 2012, despite the country having a population 1/7th the size of the U.S.

In London, 10,000 phones were stolen in just one month of 2013. In fact, the black market trade is so lucrative the Columbian drug cartels are now trafficking stolen smartphones out of the United States.

In San Francisco, 67 percent of all robberies involve the theft of a mobile communications device. In Oakland the number is as high as 75 percent of all robberies.

Los Angeles has seen a 30 percent increase in smartphone theft since 2011, while San Diego has experienced a 34% increase.  22% of all robberies in Sacramento involve the theft of a smartphone.

SB 962 requires theft-deterrent technology to come standard on all smartphones sold in California.  The departure from the status-quo stems from how the technology is currently deployed, wherein consumers are required to opt-in by seeking out and enabling the technology.

The baseline standard established by SB 962 ensures the majority of wireless consumers will have technology on their devices that allows them to remotely lock and wipe their device.

If they retrieve their smartphone, a consumer will be able to restore the device’s functionality and its data. With thieves typically performing a hard reset on a stolen device in order to optimize it for resale, however, an essential aspect to ending the epidemic is the additional requirement that precludes a wireless device from being reactivated without an authorized user’s credentials.

The manufacturers have indicated their intent to apply the standards required in the California law nationwide.  As a result, the opt-out nature of the new law will ensure the majority of smartphones are worthless if stolen, thereby removing the incentive to steal smartphones across the U.S.

Furthermore, with organized crime rings shipping smartphones stolen in the U.S. overseas, passage of this legislation will have implications for public safety around the globe.

SB 962 applies to smartphones manufactured after July 1, 2015 and sold in California.