Two salient practice of law enforcers in the U.S. who have been pushing Apple to do more to combat iPhone theft say they apprise a raw characteristic previewed earlier Monday that could help make slip iPhones more difficult for thieves to resell .
The “ activating lock ” feature , which was demonstrate at the company ’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco on Monday , requires the use of the owner ’s Apple ID and watchword to reset or reactivate a phone that has been lock , disabled or wiped .
“ We are appreciative of the motion made by Apple to treat smartphone thievery , ” said George Gascón , the district lawyer for San Francisco , and Eric Schneiderman , state attorney general for New York , in a joint argument .
“ We set aside judgment on the activation lock feature until we can translate its factual functionality , ” they said .
The two have been critical of Apple , other contribute smartphone makers , and cellular carrier for what they see is a slothful reply to therising number of smartphone theftsin major American cities . In several cities , smartphone thefts now account for more than 40 percent of street crime , and a goodish lump of those imply looting with a grease-gun or a tongue .
While many phones offer a removed lock or remote wipe feature film to safeguard customer data point if stolen , there is n’t generally a honest way to render a earphone inoperable so that it ca n’t be reset , reformatted and resold . The majority of street thefts appear aimed at resale of the handset rather than stealing of personal data on a telephone set .
“ We are bright that the electric cell telephone industry will imbed persistent technology that is free to consumers that will make a phone inoperable once steal , even if the twist is off , the SIM card is removed or the phone is change by a thief to nullify sensing , ” the two functionary allege .
Apple ’s announcement get along just a few day before representative of major smartphone players are due to meet with Gascón and Schneiderman in New York .
The New York state attorney generalwrote to Apple , Microsoft , Google and Samsung in mid - Mayasking them to satisfy with him . In the letters , he alluded to possible prosecution under two parts of Department of State law that deal with misleading swap drill .
