• Home
  • About Off The Grid
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
Saturday, May 17, 2025
  • How-To
  • Grid Threats
  • Survival
  • Gardening
  • Food
  • Worldview
  • Health
  • Privacy
  • Hunting
  • Defense
  • Financial
  • News
  • Misc
No Result
View All Result
  • How-To
  • Grid Threats
  • Survival
  • Gardening
  • Food
  • Worldview
  • Health
  • Privacy
  • Hunting
  • Defense
  • Financial
  • News
  • Misc
No Result
View All Result
Off The Grid News
Home Current Events

Bill Passes Allowing Police To Shut Off ALL Cell Phones … Remotely

by Off The Grid News Staff
in Current Events
Print Print
‘Kill Switch’ Bill Passes Allowing Police To Shut Off Cell Phones

Image source: UPI

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on TruthEmail Article
‘Kill Switch’ Bill Passes Allowing Police To Shut Off Cell Phones
Image source: UPI

Updated Sept. 4

Police and others will have the ability to shut off cell phones anytime they want under a bill signed into law by California Gov. Jerry Brown, privacy experts say.

The new law, Senate Bill (SB) 962, will require manufacturers to add a “kill switch” to cell phones that would let authorities turn the device off remotely. The stated goal of the new law is to allow owners of smartphones to “kill” their phone if it’s stolen, but privacy experts say the bill’s language could be twisted. Additional language was needed, they add.

Their other concern: This requirement will spread to other states.

“If you give law enforcement a tool that can be abused, you’ll have an instance of asking for forgiveness rather than permission,” Jack Laperruque, an expert on privacy at the Center for Democracy and Technology, told The Hill. Laperruque believes authorities could use the kill switch to shut down communications during protests or incidents of civil unrest such as the riots in Ferguson, Missouri.

Many protesters use smartphones to coordinate their actions during demonstrations. Another example of abuse would be for police to prevent bystanders – such as citizen or mainstream journalists — from posting pictures or videos of police actions on the Internet. Cops could use the kill switch to stop people from alerting the media or their lawyers to police activity.

“This could effectively be co-opted to disrupt protests,” Laperruque said.

Bombshell Book Reveals… How To Survive The Coming Martial Law In America

In Ferguson, police at times demanded that citizens and journalists turn off their cell phones. Under a bill such as SB 962, police would have had the power to do it by themselves, critics say.

Designed to Combat Smartphone Theft

Supporters of the law said critics simply are wrong. Brown signed it Aug. 25.

“This legislation addresses the violent, global epidemic of smartphone theft,” Maz Szabo, a spokesman for the San Francisco District Attorney’s office, said of SB 962. Szabo’s boss supports the bill and says it will remove incentives for smartphone theft.

‘Kill Switch’ Bill Passes Allowing Police To Shut Off Cell Phones
Image source: NY Post

Most smartphones already have adequate anti-theft measures, including kill switch “apps” that can be activated by their owners, Hanni Fakhoury, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told state legislators. EFF believes that makes SB 962 unnecessary.

Currently, smartphones can only be deactivated with the owner’s permission, Fakhoury noted.

“But SB 962 is not explicit about who can activate such a switch,” Fakhoury said. “And more critically, the solution will be available for others to exploit as well, including malicious actors or law enforcement.”

Phone purchasers will have the ability to deactivate the kill switch under SB 962, but they will have to specifically request it. Fakhoury believes that many owners will know nothing about the option and leave themselves vulnerable to the “kill switch.”

Bill Is In Governor’s Hands

Major smartphone manufacturers such as Apple and Microsoft initially opposed SB 962 but later dropped their opposition. Privacy advocates and some technology groups are actively encouraging Brown to veto it.

“This is the first bill of its kind in the country,” the bill’s sponsor, State Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), said. “I think as any number of issues here in California, when we act it becomes the de facto way business is done across the country. Minnesota passed a bill before ours, but it’s opt-in. That will not make it a universal deterrent.”

SB 962 will go into effect July 2015.

Get $600 worth of survival blueprints … absolutely free!

ShareTweetShareSend

Related Posts

How U.S. Tariffs Reshape China’s Top 20 Raw Supplement Imports

How U.S. Tariffs Reshape China’s Top 20 Raw Supplement Imports

by Bill Heid

The U.S.-China trade war has escalated to a critical phase in 2025, with tariffs on Chinese imports reaching unprecedented levels,...

Doomsday Dominoes: What Happens When Nukes Are Launched In India Or Pakistan

Doomsday Dominoes: What Happens When Nukes Are Launched In India Or Pakistan

by Bill Heid

Health, Environmental, and Economic Impacts of a Nuclear War Between India and Pakistan The specter of nuclear conflict remains one...

The Long…  Bloody History of India and Pakistan’s Endless Conflict

The Long… Bloody History of India and Pakistan’s Endless Conflict

by Bill Heid

A Nation Born in Bloodshed The roots of the ongoing hostility between India and Pakistan officially stretch back to 1947,...

Next Post
5 Toxins Hidden In Pretty Much Everything You Eat

5 Toxins Hidden In Pretty Much Everything You Eat

Please login to join discussion

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

17 Surprising Off-Grid Uses For Versatile Cornstarch

17 Surprising Off-Grid Uses For Versatile Cornstarch

Getting To The Heart Of Organic Living – The Soil

Getting To The Heart Of Organic Living – The Soil

Why Obama Still Will Attack Syria, with William F. Jasper – Episode 177

TRENDING STORIES

  • bubonic plague

    Is Another Bubonic Plague Pandemic On The Horizon?

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Waco Fertilizer Plant Explosion & A Look Back On The “Waco Massacre”

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Make Yourself 3 Times More Likely To Survive A Heart Attack

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • AI Surveillance Of Shoppers: Walmart’s Newest Tool To Grab Your Data

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • ‘Apocalyptic’ Microchip Implants Are Here – And Being Inserted Into People’s Hands

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Subscribe to our Insider Newsletter

Huge discounts on off-the-grid gear and life saving supplements.






‘Off The Grid News’ is an independent, weekly email newsletter and website that is crammed full of practical information on living and surviving off the grid. Advice you’ll never hear from the mainstream media.

  • How-To
  • Grid Threats
  • Extreme Survival
  • Survival Gardening
  • Off-Grid Foods
  • Worldview
  • Natural Health
  • Survival Hunting
  • Privacy
  • Financial
  • Current Events
  • Self Defense
  • Home Defense
  • Pain-Free Living
  • Miscellaneous
  • Off Grid Videos

© Copyright 2025 Off The Grid News.  All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • How-To
  • Grid Threats
  • Survival
  • Gardening
  • Food
  • Worldview
  • Health
  • Privacy
  • Hunting
  • Defense
  • Financial
  • News
  • Misc
  • Videos

© Copyright 2025 Off The Grid News.  All Rights Reserved.