Smartphone theft fight gains UK support

stolen stuff from car

The issue over smartphone thefts has taken on a British flavor. London’s mayor now says he supports calls by American law enforcement officials asking Apple and others to beef up ways to prevent stolen phones.

In a statement, London Mayor Boris Johnson said smartphone makers should “take this issue seriously.” Already, a half-dozen American officials have joined the ‘Secure Our Smartphones’ campaign, stretching from Hawaii to Delaware…

“Residents and visitors to our city need better protection from the menace of smartphone theft,” Johnson said last week, according to AllThingsD.

We need the industry to take this issue seriously and come up with a technical solution that can squash the illegal smartphone market that is fueling this crime.

San Francisco District Attorney General George Gascón and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman held a summit in June, inviting Apple, Samsung, Google and Microsoft to discuss what they are doing to use technology to stem the rise of smartphone-related crimes.

Activation Lock (iPhone screenshot 001)

The San Francisco crime fighter, who has pushed for a physical “kill switch” came away from the meeting pleased. Apple is adding an Activation Lock feature to iOS 7 which prevents a carrier activation even after a thief has disabled Find My iPhone or performed a full reset of the device.

Samsung isn’t standing still either. The South Korean company is working with Absolute Software to include an anti-theft measure in the Galaxy S4, powered by Google’s Android mobile software.

Do you think Apple is doing enough to prevent smartphone theft?

And what other features, if any, the company should introduce to make its devices more secure?