Have you heard about the Bitcoin "Kill Switch"? It's a doozy!

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Smartphone Kill Switch Could Become Federal Law

On Thursday, US Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Mazie Hirono (D-HI) introduced national legislation to require a way to disable smartphones remotely. The goal is to deter theft and protect consumers, but this defense against thieves might come with greater vulnerability to hackers, according to a mobile industry trade group.

WITH CELL PHONE THEFTS SURGING, KLOBUCHAR, MIKULSKI, BLUMENTHAL, HIRONO INTRODUCE LEGISLATION TO REQUIRE A “KILL SWITCH” ON SMARTPHONES TO DETER THIEVES, HELP PROTECT CONSUMERS [from themselves.]

The way I see it, this comes from the school of never-let-a-crisis-go-to-waste, in this case, blame thieves who've taken advantage of idiot consumers to advance an agenda.

Make no mistake, next are all internet-connectable devices, the same devices currently used to remit payment freely, i.e. Bitcoin.

~TMIBTCITW

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[7Priest7]

Make no mistake, next are all internet-connectable devices, the same devices currently used to remit payment freely, i.e. Bitcoin.

NSA Backdoors have been found on windoze.
Apple products do not seem to be any safer.
Linux is not safe either.

Having a way to remotely wipe your device is good, but it should be user choice and user installed.
My Android antivirus has the ability to remotely wipe my device if I need it.

[Meuh6879]

"Kill switch" is only the ability to lock IMEI on mobile network ...
in Europa, it's a commun task.

[Weioo]

The U.S. government sees what's happening all over the world with protests and revolutions in various countries. They know, they are scared of their own citizens, and they are obviously preemptively putting systems in place to cut off public communication to make such protests and revolutions nearly impossible to organize here. None of that is even possible without mass communication. I've known this for some time, but see the mad max 2020 post in this forum for more info. Some people are so dang oblivious.

The Arab Uprising of 2011 and Occupy Wall Street really woke up the U.S. government and they saw how serious and resilient people can be, even against semi-advanced governments. They basically had to change laws to be able to kick people out of (Menlow?) park in NYC. That's eventually what ended Occupy. I guess what I'm trying to say is, this is much larger than just Bitcoin. It scares the shit out of me.

[franky1]

this has got nothing to do with cell phone thefts.

these days people dont steal phones to make phonecalls. they do it to sell the scrap minerals that are inside the phone. so a kill switch wont drop the price of the material in the phone

the actual reason has to do with stopping remote bombings by being able to switch off any cell phone in range of a certain cell tower. or like most of the middle east countries. stop people making anti-political calls to neighbouring nations when there is a media blackout.

also most protests are organised by cell phone. because its kind of hard to walk the streets with a desktop in one hand and a banner in the other. and also they dont want people using their phones to make youtube videos of the cops using unreasonable force at peaceful protests.

so guys in short. dont upgrade your Iphones to next years next gen. keep an old-tech phone handy. you'll never know when it may become useful

[bmanzzs]

All democrats, of course. (not saying republicans are much better...)

[keithers]

Make no mistake, next are all internet-connectable devices, the same devices currently used to remit payment freely, i.e. Bitcoin.

NSA Backdoors have been found on windoze.
Apple products do not seem to be any safer.
Linux is not safe either.

Having a way to remotely wipe your device is good, but it should be user choice and user installed.
My Android antivirus has the ability to remotely wipe my device if I need it.

I read somewhere that the NSA was intercepting computer orders from Amazon, and then installing their own custom malware onto newly purchased laptops and computers.   It was set that even if the user did a complete wipe of the computer after receiving it, the malware would re-install itself onto the machine afterwards.   

[Tirapon]

We need to start working on open source hardware.

[hilariousandco]

Isn't there already apps that can wipe or lock your phone remotely?

[LiteCoinGuy]

"CELL PHONE THEFTS"

yeah thats a big problem   ..... disgusting.

[Tzakato]

[...]NSA Backdoors have been found on windoze.
Apple products do not seem to be any safer.
Linux is not safe either.

Wrong. Win and Apple are of course backdoored by the NSA and so on, but Linux isn't. If you read the article you linked to you will understand that the NSA approached Linus Torvalds (the inventor of Linux and still one of the developers) to make a backdoor - but he didn't. That's simply because Linus doesn't own Linux - he can't decide on his own what to change. And Linux is open-source and devoloped by a huge load of developers - nobody, not even Linus, can implement a backdoor without anyone noticing.
That's why Linux is safe and will stay so.

Smartphone Kill Switch Could Become Federal Law

On Thursday, US Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Mazie Hirono (D-HI) introduced national legislation to require a way to disable smartphones remotely. The goal is to deter theft and protect consumers, but this defense against thieves might come with greater vulnerability to hackers, according to a mobile industry trade group.

WITH CELL PHONE THEFTS SURGING, KLOBUCHAR, MIKULSKI, BLUMENTHAL, HIRONO INTRODUCE LEGISLATION TO REQUIRE A “KILL SWITCH” ON SMARTPHONES TO DETER THIEVES, HELP PROTECT CONSUMERS [from themselves.]

The way I see it, this comes from the school of never-let-a-crisis-go-to-waste, in this case, blame thieves who've taken advantage of idiot consumers to advance an agenda.

Make no mistake, next are all internet-connectable devices, the same devices currently used to remit payment freely, i.e. Bitcoin.

That's just...   I can't find words for this. What's next? Every door of the world should be openable by the government? Every camera should be viewable? "The land of the free"? My ass.

Well, if you think about it... What about implementing a kill-switch into the heads of new-born babies? They could be stolen too! Great idea!

[Tirapon]

Open source is the future. I damn well hope so anyway, otherwise we're fucked.

[danieldaniel]

"Kill switch" is only the ability to lock IMEI on mobile network ...
in Europa, it's a commun task.

The news article claims that the senators want to require backdoors to "disable smartphones."  Do they only want to be able to disable the IMEI? 

[7Priest7]

We need to start working on open source hardware.

When dealing with non-code it is public domain.
But yes, Public Domain hardware would be nice.
All blueprints released to the public.

If you read the article you linked to you will understand that the NSA approached Linus Torvalds (the inventor of Linux and still one of the developers) to make a backdoor - but he didn't. That's simply because Linus doesn't own Linux - he can't decide on his own what to change. And Linux is open-source and devoloped by a huge load of developers - nobody, not even Linus, can implement a backdoor without anyone noticing.
That's why Linux is safe and will stay so.

They pressured/intimidated him into denying NSA attempts.
He nodded yes.
If they still have the ability to control what he says, how can you be so sure?

Have you personally reviewed ALL Linux kernel source code?
If they can pressure Linus, they can pressure anybody who discovers and attempts to divulge the backdoor in the source.

[guybrushthreepwood]

There's always going to be conspiracy theorists with any new technology, and having a killswitch is a logical safety feature, but what does this have to do with Bitcoin?

[gpucoolingmethod]

"Kill switch" is only the ability to lock IMEI on mobile network ...
in Europa, it's a commun task.

hahahaha you can change IMEI very easily on android phone. I dont think  that operation is that stupid

[Tzakato]

[...]

If you read the article you linked to you will understand that the NSA approached Linus Torvalds (the inventor of Linux and still one of the developers) to make a backdoor - but he didn't. That's simply because Linus doesn't own Linux - he can't decide on his own what to change. And Linux is open-source and devoloped by a huge load of developers - nobody, not even Linus, can implement a backdoor without anyone noticing.
That's why Linux is safe and will stay so.

They pressured/intimidated him into denying NSA attempts.
He nodded yes.
If they still have the ability to control what he says, how can you be so sure?

Have you personally reviewed ALL Linux kernel source code?
If they can pressure Linus, they can pressure anybody who discovers and attempts to divulge the backdoor in the source.

No, I haven't. But the great thing about Linux and open-source in general is that it's huge - Linux is developed by hundreds of developers all around the world. And not even the NSA has the power to intimidate a developer in Russia (most notably Russia), Switzerland, Norway or elsewhere. It's the same principle that makes Bitcoin so safe - decentralization.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

There's always going to be conspiracy theorists with any new technology, and having a killswitch is a logical safety feature, but what does this have to do with Bitcoin?

Nothing, if bitcoins are exchanged worldwide without the use of an internet connection device that could easily have a killswitch installed.

[tvbcof]

We need to start working on open source hardware.

+1

This is actually more interesting to me at this point than Bitcoin since it is an important component of the foundation upon which Bitcoin and a whole host of other 'freedom related' forms of expression rest.

[corebob]

Jesus, talk about solving problems that doesn't exist.

What will be the next, mind control programs?