Kevin Bostic
The Activation Lock anti-theft feature Apple built into iOS 7 has earned slight praise from government officials, who are now urging iOS device owners to upgrade to the latest version of the operating system in order to head off device theft.
The Attorneys General for New York and San Francisco issued a joint statement on Thursday following the launch of iOS 7. The statement praised iOS 7's Activation Lock feature as "an important first step towards ending the global epidemic of smartphone theft."
"In the months ahead," the statement reads, "it is our hope that Activation Lock will prove to be an effective deterrent to theft, and that the widespread use of this new system will end the victimization of iPhone users, as thieves learn that the devices have no value on the secondary market. We are particularly pleased that – because Activation Lock is a feature associated with Apple's new operating system as opposed to a new device – it will be available to consumers with older phone models who download the free upgrade."
San Francisco District Attorney General George Gascón and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman have been calling on Apple, Google, Samsung, and others to build better security features into their devices and the operating systems that run them in order to head off smartphone theft.
Specifically, Gascón and Schneiderman have been calling for the addition of a "kill switch" on the OS or device level that would render a phone inoperable if it is stolen. Apple's Activation Lock — which requires that a user's Apple ID and password be entered before anyone can turn off Find My iPhone, erase data, or re-activate a device after it has been remotely erased — implements many of the changes the Attorneys General had been asking for.
Still, though, the two officials were sparing in their praise for iOS 7, pointing more to "months of pressure from a global coalition of elected officials and law enforcement agencies" as the reason for the new feature.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
27 Comments
[quote name="AppleInsider" url="/t/159627/us-prosecutors-encourage-users-to-upgrade-to-ios-7-for-activation-lock-security-feature#post_2400954"] The Attorneys General for New York and San Francisco issued a joint statement on Thursday [...] San Francisco District Attorney General George Gasc?n [...][/quote] i live in san francisco. we don't have an attorney general. nor do we have a district attorney general. we do have a district attorney, however, which the statement you obviously failed to read does mention. but hey, don't let a pedant like me get in the way of your sixth-grade professionalism.
I love how politicians pat themselves on the back like Apple wouldn't have done it by itself.
I love how politicians pat themselves on the back like Apple wouldn't have done it by itself.
Maybe Apple would have done this without the prodding. Maybe not. But they did it. Where's the blowback on the other vendors for doing nothing.
For this feature to work does it have to be remote wiped? What if they (thieves) turn off the radios before that happens. Does the phone (when plugged into iTunes) call home to check if it's lost and prevent resetting?
Re Jungmark's comment: Thank you Apple for continuing to innovate in the areas of design, hardware, and software. I think iOS7 is great on my iPhone 5 . . . Makes me want a 5S. Most Politicians have to take credit for something someone else has done (Apple), because few of them are capable of doing very much. If you listen to the "news channels" and it doesn't matter which one, you will find Politicians, over a period of weeks or months, take credit for something that someone else has done. " I have been calling for . . . ", etc. and now . . . It is a disgrace that we let them get away with it for as long as they do. They need to have limited terms and / or limited benefits - President and Company included. If all the Politicians had Social Security benefits, then the problem of the Affordable Care act would be solved (at least for us). We, the non-politicians, would probably have Federal Benefits. And by the way, Federal and State employees need these benefits, as long as they have contributed and put up with these donkeys. They are not held accountable for their shortcomings, but others are.