Carriers Reject Samsung's ‘Kill Switch’ for Preventing Cellphone Theft
Apple's Less Intrusive, Less Hackable, Less Permanent Methodology Powers Users, Not Carriers
Lawmakers in San Francisco and New York are pushing cellphone makers to adopt a so-called kill switch that would allow users to deactivate their phone remotely, discouraging criminals from stealing phones. But the cellphone carriers are not on board.
San Francisco’s district attorney, George Gascón, said he had been working on an agreement with Samsung Electronics to include antitheft software with all its phones sold in the United States. Preloading the software on Samsung’s phones would require approval from the carriers that service the phones. The carriers, including AT&T, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile and Sprint, rejected the idea, he said.
snip...
But the carriers don’t think a so-called kill switch is the right way to go. In June, CTIA, the industry trade group that represents the carriers, said in a filing to the Federal Communications Commission that “a kill switch isn’t the answer.” CTIA said that a kill switch would pose risks, because hackers who took control of the feature could disable phones for customers, including the phones used by officials in the Department of Defense and law enforcement.
The trade group added that if a phone were deactivated and the customer later retrieved it, he or she could not reactivate it. That claim is not true in the case of Apple’s new antitheft feature, Activation Lock, which allows a customer to disable a phone that has been lost, and, after it has been found, reactivate it with the correct username and password.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/19/carriers-reject-a-kill-switch-for-preventing-cellphone-theft
= new reply since forum marked as read
Me and touchscreens have a dicey relationship. 
