If you have lost a smartphone, a pricey one at that this may come as some good news to you. South Korea through the Science, ICT and Future Planning Ministry last week introduced a law that will ensure that devices manufactured in the country from now till the second quarter of 2013 will bear the Kill Switch functionality.
This is in the move to curb smartphones theft. The Kill switch will not increase your chances of recovering your lost phone, but you will be able to remotely turn off the stolen mobile phone and render it completely useless. The device will be frozen and cannot be formatted for flashing new ROMs. This will ensure that the smartphone value goes down and hence stealing smartphones will be reduced.
Samsung and LG are among the companies confirmed to be introducing Kill Switches in the new devices being manufactured. This would mean that even the devices being shipped out of the country could go preset with kill switches. The black market could have a huge drop as most of the devices sold in black market are stolen.
Source: Korea Times
