This is not a bad idea, but why does it have to be mandated by governmental agencies and force everybody to buy it? Manufacturers should be given the opportunity to do this or not and market the feature or not. I’m sure there are comnsumers who use their phone in such a way or in certain places where they don’t feel they need this capability. Why be forced to get it and pay the added costs for it if they don’t want/need it. Once again, governments deciding what’s best for us as we’re too dumb to figure it out ourselves.
The problem is this shouldn’t be an added cost. The ability exists to turn your phone service off if you didn’t pay your bill. If a consumer reports their phone stolen, they should be able to block usage and access to all data of said phone without an additional cost. Once someone tries to activate said phone, the original consumer should be notified that someone is trying to activate the phone. They have no problem sending mass emails for upgrades and other spam mail, it’s actually a simple fix. Just another case of outdated cost accounting to justify more profit.
Here’s a thought: Thief steals a device and can’t use it because of the kill switch. So the thief steals another… and another…. until the thief finds one without the kill switch feature he/she can utilize. Seems as if this would drive the theft frequency higher and higher. The exact opposite of what the legislation would attempt to create. Welcome to the good old USA.
Manufacturers have had this capability for some time and it is offered in Europe. They chose not to offer it to the U.S. I can only speculate as to why. Perhaps they like that we have to keep buying new ones when ours are stolen. As to this increasing thefts, perhaps, but the law of diminishing return would indicate otherwise.
Since we are on the topic of crimes, how about we pass legislation in regards to politicians. When they make a compaign promise and get elected, if it is not fullfilled by the end of their term, they get the next four years in a Federal prison. This would keep the lies and “crime” out of our governmental buildings.
Good idea Baxtor. How can you get it passed by the politicians that are there now and have been lying to us for decades? I think the prisons would be very full indeed if you held the Federal, State, County and Municipal employees to this standard.
I hate to tell you this Stan, but for the past 6 years, GW has not been in office and the libs led by our current President have not exactly been transparent on any issue or policy. They take lying to a new art form. Hillary is no different, you know the one that is dead broke with $100 million in the bank.
Now don’t be too hard on Bush, Agent. He is only a Texan after all. And I know he tried his best, despite the fact that he started two unfunded foreign wars and passed medicare part D (also unfunded). Not everyone is smart like you are!
Stan, what would you have him do, bow to Terrorists like Obama has been doing? Need I remind you the the US were attacked by these people and killed over 3,000 of our citizens. How is the new foreign policy strategy working out for us? Need I remind you that your President said Afghanistan is the right war for the right reasons? Now, he is about to hand that country over to the Taliban who is just biding their time. We will end up with two Terror sponsored countries seeking to destroy us. How about those ISIS boys beheading children in Iraq? Nice guys, huh.
I would probably have him fabricate an elaborate lie about WMD in order to trick the entire country into going to war, thereby destabalizing an entire region, permitting both Iran and ISIS to gain strength.
Just kidding, that would be a catastrophic failure for the entire country, potentially only surpassed by a meltdown of the entire global financial system because of de-regulation.
Stan, I saw a terrible video today sent by a friend. Picture 20 prisoners kneeling on the ground with their hands tied behind their back. Behind them are ISIS guys with their AK’s, pistols etc. They were all screaming their hatred etc. The prisoners were guilty of – being Christian. They opened up and blew all the prisoners heads off and shot them hundreds of times. It was very bad. By the way, these guys were like this long before Bush ever did anything to them. They are in full fledged Caliphate and they it has been going on a long time. How did that Red Line work out for us in Syria? It only prompted them to move to Iraq where they can pick the low hanging fruit and establish another terror sponsored government. Did you see where the leader of ISIS was in our custody and we let him go? Thank you Obama for being the weakest President since Carter.
So ISIS, a group that only came into power because of Bush’s false-war, kills some people, and Obama is to blame. Right, Agent.
Using that logic, Perry is the weakest governor in the nation since more illegals enter through Texas’ border than any other. At least he does a good job of executing innocent people.
August 13, 2014 at 12:14 pm
farmerjohn says:
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Crain hit it on the head, I’m pretty sure the additional sales for stolen phones are a fairly substantial profit for the companies. My inner Luddite is screaming for the switch to shut them ALL off! Me being the only one with the switch of course. The look on some losers faces who’s only trace of a life is their phone would be priceless!
Wow Farmer, I finally agree with something you said. Cell addiction is a huge problem in this country. People cannot have them out of their hand for a moment. Try getting someone’s attention when you are trying to sell insurance to them. Constant interruptions with texting or phone calls that they just “have to take”.
Awesome, that may the first time anyone’s ever agreed with me, it’s weird feeling! I’d like to take your idea a step further and have the phones actually explode. What fun!
Farmer, I saw an interesting thing on the net about the cell phones. It seems some can be modified to be a gun and actually fire rounds. It has TSA worried that someone will get one through and cause big trouble. They are now doing examinations of cells and if it is too heavy, it merits a scan to see if bullets are in it.
I would be interested to see that, as a gun guy I would have trouble seeing how that would work. The mechanics of firearms are completely different from cell phones (I think!). You’d need the chamber, the barrel and ammunition, not to mention the way to physically set it off. We’ll see however.
August 13, 2014 at 3:00 pm
txmouthbreatherboogereatertx says:
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Opie,
Sounds like you need better control of your clientele. Maybe you should but a sign up under your Ronald Reagan portrait that says “My insurance presentation begins when you put your cell phone down.”
Big Nanny wants to “take care of us” and make all decisions for us. Anyone who has so much info in their phone that it will affect their personal life if the phone is stolen should wise up. Try something different… memorize phone numbers, bank account numbers, etc. Good for your brain and good for your safety.
As far as the Middle East goes… we cannot redo history. ISIS will prevail, we have no dog in that fight. They really do not want to come here – they want to dominate the Levant region in which they lived in the 1300s. What they are doing is horrible, but they probably will prevail. History shows us many horrors. We need to close our borders, bring middle class jobs back, and send the Statue of Liberty back to France. You will notice France NEVER wants to take in anybody! Perot was right… the giant sucking sound of middle-class jobs leaving this country has occurred (and NAFTA was approved by Bill Clinton)!
This is not a bad idea, but why does it have to be mandated by governmental agencies and force everybody to buy it? Manufacturers should be given the opportunity to do this or not and market the feature or not. I’m sure there are comnsumers who use their phone in such a way or in certain places where they don’t feel they need this capability. Why be forced to get it and pay the added costs for it if they don’t want/need it. Once again, governments deciding what’s best for us as we’re too dumb to figure it out ourselves.
Dave, perhaps they should have cells that self destruct if the driver of an auto is attempting to text while driving.
The problem is this shouldn’t be an added cost. The ability exists to turn your phone service off if you didn’t pay your bill. If a consumer reports their phone stolen, they should be able to block usage and access to all data of said phone without an additional cost. Once someone tries to activate said phone, the original consumer should be notified that someone is trying to activate the phone. They have no problem sending mass emails for upgrades and other spam mail, it’s actually a simple fix. Just another case of outdated cost accounting to justify more profit.
It’s yet another way for the rich to steal from the middle class.
Here’s a thought: Thief steals a device and can’t use it because of the kill switch. So the thief steals another… and another…. until the thief finds one without the kill switch feature he/she can utilize. Seems as if this would drive the theft frequency higher and higher. The exact opposite of what the legislation would attempt to create. Welcome to the good old USA.
That’s extremely short-sighted. Here are some flaws with your thinking:
1. If it’s really that easy to just ‘steal another and another’, the thieves would already be doing that.
2. After a year or so of all new phones having kill switches, the ones without them will be so outdated that thieves wouldn’t waste their time.
Manufacturers have had this capability for some time and it is offered in Europe. They chose not to offer it to the U.S. I can only speculate as to why. Perhaps they like that we have to keep buying new ones when ours are stolen. As to this increasing thefts, perhaps, but the law of diminishing return would indicate otherwise.
Since we are on the topic of crimes, how about we pass legislation in regards to politicians. When they make a compaign promise and get elected, if it is not fullfilled by the end of their term, they get the next four years in a Federal prison. This would keep the lies and “crime” out of our governmental buildings.
Good idea Baxtor. How can you get it passed by the politicians that are there now and have been lying to us for decades? I think the prisons would be very full indeed if you held the Federal, State, County and Municipal employees to this standard.
I agree Agent, Bush really dropped the ball here. Hillary ’16!
I hate to tell you this Stan, but for the past 6 years, GW has not been in office and the libs led by our current President have not exactly been transparent on any issue or policy. They take lying to a new art form. Hillary is no different, you know the one that is dead broke with $100 million in the bank.
She never claimed to be dead broke now.
Now don’t be too hard on Bush, Agent. He is only a Texan after all. And I know he tried his best, despite the fact that he started two unfunded foreign wars and passed medicare part D (also unfunded). Not everyone is smart like you are!
Stan, what would you have him do, bow to Terrorists like Obama has been doing? Need I remind you the the US were attacked by these people and killed over 3,000 of our citizens. How is the new foreign policy strategy working out for us? Need I remind you that your President said Afghanistan is the right war for the right reasons? Now, he is about to hand that country over to the Taliban who is just biding their time. We will end up with two Terror sponsored countries seeking to destroy us. How about those ISIS boys beheading children in Iraq? Nice guys, huh.
For sure not! Dont bow to the terrorists!
I would probably have him fabricate an elaborate lie about WMD in order to trick the entire country into going to war, thereby destabalizing an entire region, permitting both Iran and ISIS to gain strength.
Just kidding, that would be a catastrophic failure for the entire country, potentially only surpassed by a meltdown of the entire global financial system because of de-regulation.
Its not like he did both, right?
Stan, I saw a terrible video today sent by a friend. Picture 20 prisoners kneeling on the ground with their hands tied behind their back. Behind them are ISIS guys with their AK’s, pistols etc. They were all screaming their hatred etc. The prisoners were guilty of – being Christian. They opened up and blew all the prisoners heads off and shot them hundreds of times. It was very bad. By the way, these guys were like this long before Bush ever did anything to them. They are in full fledged Caliphate and they it has been going on a long time. How did that Red Line work out for us in Syria? It only prompted them to move to Iraq where they can pick the low hanging fruit and establish another terror sponsored government. Did you see where the leader of ISIS was in our custody and we let him go? Thank you Obama for being the weakest President since Carter.
So ISIS, a group that only came into power because of Bush’s false-war, kills some people, and Obama is to blame. Right, Agent.
Using that logic, Perry is the weakest governor in the nation since more illegals enter through Texas’ border than any other. At least he does a good job of executing innocent people.
Crain hit it on the head, I’m pretty sure the additional sales for stolen phones are a fairly substantial profit for the companies. My inner Luddite is screaming for the switch to shut them ALL off! Me being the only one with the switch of course. The look on some losers faces who’s only trace of a life is their phone would be priceless!
Wow Farmer, I finally agree with something you said. Cell addiction is a huge problem in this country. People cannot have them out of their hand for a moment. Try getting someone’s attention when you are trying to sell insurance to them. Constant interruptions with texting or phone calls that they just “have to take”.
Awesome, that may the first time anyone’s ever agreed with me, it’s weird feeling! I’d like to take your idea a step further and have the phones actually explode. What fun!
Farmer, I saw an interesting thing on the net about the cell phones. It seems some can be modified to be a gun and actually fire rounds. It has TSA worried that someone will get one through and cause big trouble. They are now doing examinations of cells and if it is too heavy, it merits a scan to see if bullets are in it.
I would be interested to see that, as a gun guy I would have trouble seeing how that would work. The mechanics of firearms are completely different from cell phones (I think!). You’d need the chamber, the barrel and ammunition, not to mention the way to physically set it off. We’ll see however.
Opie,
Sounds like you need better control of your clientele. Maybe you should but a sign up under your Ronald Reagan portrait that says “My insurance presentation begins when you put your cell phone down.”
Anyone operating a cell phone without a kill switch shall be punished by imprisonment as an accessory to theft. Amen!
Big Nanny wants to “take care of us” and make all decisions for us. Anyone who has so much info in their phone that it will affect their personal life if the phone is stolen should wise up. Try something different… memorize phone numbers, bank account numbers, etc. Good for your brain and good for your safety.
As far as the Middle East goes… we cannot redo history. ISIS will prevail, we have no dog in that fight. They really do not want to come here – they want to dominate the Levant region in which they lived in the 1300s. What they are doing is horrible, but they probably will prevail. History shows us many horrors. We need to close our borders, bring middle class jobs back, and send the Statue of Liberty back to France. You will notice France NEVER wants to take in anybody! Perot was right… the giant sucking sound of middle-class jobs leaving this country has occurred (and NAFTA was approved by Bill Clinton)!