????智能手機日新月異的同時，隨之而來的是被偷走的手機越來越多。如何能既防賊偷、又防賊惦記？美國加州的立法者們似乎認為，只要強制手機廠商給手機安一個“自殺開關”，就能一勞永逸地解決這個問題。本月，加州參議院通過了一項強制手機提供商在設備上加裝“自殺開關”的法案。但是一個關鍵的問題目前仍然沒有答案：“自殺開關”是否是手機防盜的終極方案？

????行業專家們針對這個問題還沒有形成共識。但是手機被盜無疑已經是一個越來越嚴重的問題。根據《消費者報告》（Consumer Reports）的數據，2013年美國有超過300萬部智能手機被盜，遠超2012年的160萬部。另據舊金山警局表示，光是在舊金山，去年就有2400部手機被偷，比前年上漲了23個百分點。軟件與云安全服務提供商Centrify公司的CEO湯姆?坎姆指出：“全美各地的警察局幾乎都被智能手機被盜的案子給淹沒了。”

????這個編號“SB 962”的法案是由加州參議員馬克?雷諾提出的，并且獲得了舊金山地區地方檢察官喬治?加斯肯的支持。如果這份提案最早在八月初能獲得加州眾議院以及州長杰瑞?布朗的批準，它將意味著從2015年7月1日起，所有在加州銷售的智能手機都要安裝一個能讓手機變成板磚一塊的“自殺開關”。如果手機銷售商違反這項法案，則將面臨最高每部手機2500美元的罰款。

????這項法案最初在今年四月被加州參議員駁回，而且還遭到了包括蘋果（Apple）和微軟（Microsoft）在內的幾大主流廠商的抵制，但它最終還是在本月以26對8的比率投票通過。雖然這項法案主要著眼于加州，但是由于加州強制推動的手機附加功能很可能逐漸普及到在全美各地銷售的手機上，因此它的影響將是全國性的。

????美國無線通信與互聯網協會（CTIA）也是這項法案的反對者之一。這個協會代表了無線服務商的利益，它認為如果強制手機提供商一個州一個州地加裝防盜裝置，最終只會損害消費者的利益。同時CTIA也認為，行業本身最終會加強在手機防盜領域的創新。CTIA的對外與對公事務副理事長杰米?哈斯廷斯說：“逐個州出臺技術要求只會僵化創新，最終受害的是消費者。”為了在這個問題上掌握主動權，CTIA上個月發布了一份由蘋果、三星（Samsung）、美國電話電報公司（AT&T）、威瑞森（Verizon）等電信巨頭聯名簽署的《智能手機防盜自愿承諾》，宣誓從2015年7月起生產的智能手機將加裝免費的內置防盜工具。

????但是這項法案的支持者并不認為光是這樣就足夠了，他們認為立法途徑是促進各大廠商加強手機防盜的一種有效方式。安全技術與服務提供商CrowdStrike公司共同創始人兼技術總監德米特里?阿帕羅維奇認為：“加州立法機構這次邁出了積極的一步，促使行業真正加快了開發防盜解決方案的步伐。”

????也有人認為這項法案顯示出干預行業正常發展的跡象。邁克菲在線安全專家羅伯特?西西里亞諾指出：“支持‘自殺開關’的人根本不知道科技是怎樣運作的。只要犯罪分子懷有惡意，不管你用什么樣的自殺開關，都是可以破解的，最終只會形同虛設。”

????How do you stop the growing epidemic of stolen smartphones? Lawmakers in California seem to think it's by mandating providers to sell devices with built-in "kill switch" capabilities that would make stolen phones inoperable. This month, when the California Senate approved a bill that would require smartphone providers to build a "kill switch" feature into their devices, a key question was left unanswered: Is this the solution to smartphone theft?

????You'd be hard-pressed to find a consensus among industry experts on the matter. What's clear is that cell phone theft is a growing problem. In 2013, more than three million devices were stolen in the U.S., up from 1.6 million in 2012, according to Consumer Reports. And in San Francisco alone, 2,400 cellphones were stolen in 2013, up by 23 percent from the year before, according to the San Francisco Police Department. "Police departments across the U.S. are starting to drown in smart phone thefts,"says Tom Kemp, CEO of Centrify, a software and cloud security provider.

????The bill, SB 962, introduced by State Senator Mark Leno and sponsored by San Francisco's district attorney, George Gascón, is an attempt to curb these alarming figures. If approved by the California State Assembly and Governor Jerry Brown as early as August, it would require all smartphones sold after July 1, 2015 in California to include a kill switch function that would effectively "brick" stolen phones. Those sellers who don't comply would face fines of up to $2,500 per device.

????The bill, which was originally rejected by the California Senate in April and opposed by major providers including Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft (MSFT), passed this month with a vote of 26 to 8. While it targets the state of California, its effects would be national, as added features mandated by the state would likely make it into phones sold across the country.

????Opponents of the bill including CTIA, the wireless association that represents providers, believe forcing providers to put a solution in place state-by-state will only hurt consumers in the end. The group believes that the industry itself should drive innovation in the field. "State-by-state technology mandates stifle innovation to the ultimate detriment to the consumer," according to a statement released by Jamie Hastings, CTIA's vice president of external and state affairs. In an attempt to take matters into its own hands, last month, CTIA released a "Smartphone Anti-Theft Voluntary Commitment," an agreement signed by major industry players like Apple, Samsung, AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZN) who pledge that smartphones they manufacture after July 2015 will include free built-in antitheft tools.

????But supporters of the bill aren't convinced this is enough and see legislation as a way to speed up the process. "What that California legislation does is a positive step in encouraging the industry to actually develop a solution faster," says DmitriAlperovitch, cofounder and CTO of CrowdStrike Inc., a provider of security technology and services.

????Others see it as a sign of meddling in the industry. "Proponents of a kill switch know nothing about how technology works," says Robert Siciliano, a McAfee Online Security expert. "Whatever kill switch is implemented, will be hack-able and rendered useless by anyone with ill intent."