Sometimes I just can’t figure out why an obviously great – and necessary – idea doesn’t immediately become a law, even if it adds a miniscule extra step on the manufacturing end.

In this case, I’m referring to a “kill-switch,” a feature that would allow the owner of a smartphone to remotely render the device unusable in the case of loss or theft. Today in California, a law goes into effect statewide that mandates all smartphones have kill-switch functionality implemented and on by default (something I suspect will not be the case universally). Minnesota is the only other state with a mandatory kill-switch law, however their version does not require the feature to be enabled by default.

There has been news story after news story after news story chronicling the increase in strong-arm robberies of people for their smartphones, in London they dealt with “ride-by” robberies, and it was becoming apparent something needed to be done. Of course, and as you’d expect, the industry vehemently opposed the idea for business reasons, however they eventually warmed to the idea. Having the feature greatly reduces theft of the device, which is a common target for robbery. This article on USA Today’s website discusses the significant drop in phone thefts in London, San Francisco, and New York thanks to the feature, and now California is mandating it on all phones sold in, or intended to be used in, the state.

Ride-by robbery, from the linked DailyMail article above

There are some not-too-terrible caveats. For instance, it doesn’t apply to all phones, it won’t completely wipe data, and the kill-switch capabilities won’t be enabled by default (because that requires personal information the phone companies don’t have). They are easy to address, however, and something that should have at least been made available for the public long ago. You can read much more about the specifics regarding the new law over at InformationWeek.

Now that the law is in effect, we will see how it impacts phone thefts across the state, and I suspect with California passing such a law we’ll see many more states follow suit – especially if the impact is noticeable and positive.

I’m lucky I have a Windows Phone, since no one wants to steal those in the first place.