Is turning to technology to deter thieves a good idea? Some states in the U.S. seem to think so.

On Aug. 25, California became the second state to establish a law to have a "kill switch" in smartphones, which lets users remotely lock them and wipe them of data in the event that they are lost or stolen. Minnesota passed a similar law in June.

Currently, this kill switch technology exists on phones, but users must choose it. With the new law — S.B. 962 — it has to be standard on all phones, but users will have the option to opt out.

The law was created to help deter smartphone theft, which is one of the most common street crimes in California. According to Consumer Reports, smartphone-theft nearly doubled in the U.S. from 1.6 million in 2012 to 3.1 million in 2013.

"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," said Sen. Mark Leno, one of the law's authors.

This law isn't just for the individual users, but for law enforcement, too. Police have been given the ability to cut off phone service in certain situations, which typically required a court order unless it possesses immediate danger of death or injury. Of course, law enforcement officials can only do this if it's within the existing section 1908 of California Public Utilities Code.

Since California has one of the largest groups of smartphone buyers in the nation, manufacturers probably won't create state-specific devices, which will likely lead many other states to follow along. New York and Illinois, for example, are in the process of discussing similar bills.

Most companies — including Apple, AT&T, Google, HTC America, Motorola, Microsoft, Nokia, Samsung, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon — have committed to adding kill switches to their products anyway, so these laws are more incentive for them to do so on all of their devices, making it a nationwide trend.

It's already been a thought to members of Congress, who created the Smartphone Theft Prevention Act. The bill hasn't been brought to the floor yet, but that doesn't mean it won't be addressed and voted on eventually.

Are kill switches good idea? The Electronic Frontier Foundation and CTIA have shared some drawbacks of the firmware, including the statement: "Technology is fast; the law is slow."

EEF's reasons include, but are not limited to:

  • Numerous kill switches are already available to users.
  • If the government gets involved, S.B. 962 could possibly create options that aren't as effective and could hinder competition and innovation to third-party developers.
  • Some portions of the laws aren't specific enough to determine who can activate the kill switch.

While CTIA shared that:

  • The laws don't discuss educating consumers on smartphone theft and how to protect themselves.
  • State laws may interfere with federal smartphone requirements, such as the mandate that each phone has service to call 911 at all times.

Even though there is some negativity with the laws and it may take a while for it to reach the federal level, it's still getting a lot of attention due to the number of phones stolen. To put it into perspective, Business Insider broke down smartphone analytics to better understand who could be potentially involved:

  • There are roughly 310 million people in the U.S.
  • Of that 310 million, 250 million are over the age of 14.
  • 235 million of these Americans use some form of mobile device.
  • Eventually, nearly everyone will own a smartphone.
  • Therefore, about 225 million people in the U.S. will own a smartphone.

So, basically, each and every one of us could be involved. Not only because everyone will soon be owning smartphones, but also because developers are not going to create state-specific devices.

According to CTIA, beginning in July 2015, smartphones sold in the U.S. will include the ability to remotely wipe data from a lost or stolen phone when the phone's owner authorizes it. The efforts are raising awareness of the issues of smartphone theft around the U.S., but only time will tell if the solutions will truly work.