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#2832 stolen mobiles

Mobile phone theft must be huge. Well at least in our family it is. And it seems to be hard to insure from theft since it's difficult to prove one was stolen and not just misplaced or sold.

Samsung has samsung dive which I'm currently trying to get to work. It can lock your screen, wipe your data, track your phone and a few other tricks. I would like to add one - melt your phone.

If you can remotely melt a phone this would be good for a few reasons.

  1. You can really make sure your data are secure
  2. You can prove that the phone is no longer useable
  3. It will make theft less desireable
  4. Insurance then can be practical
I assume that the actual manufacturing cost of a phone is much less than what those wires are worth. Let's say a phone "really costs" 20 bucks. The rest is intellectual property and the technology. If you can show samsung that you melted your old phone, then they would handily sell you a new one at cost. Unless they are trying to capitalize on the thief market. Hmmmm. Now that I think about it, those shady guys at the park were wearing samsung polos...

UPDATE
laws in California and elsewhere will require a "kill switch" on all phones by July 2015.  Industry people said it was unnecessary since the technology was going that direction anyway. So are they saying their innovation is so terrible that legislators are coming up with ideas faster than you? I'm sure it has nothing to do with the money you're making from people buying replacement phones. 
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