Hacker News Reader

This is a great idea if the user has, or can take, sole control over that switch.

If my phone must enable me to kill it remotely, neato. If anyone else will be able to kill it while I have it, that's terrible.

View on HN

I agree, but phones get sold. I've bought every smartphone I've ever owned off of ebay or craigslist. How would I know the previous owner didn't retain the power to kill my phone? Or the carrier/manufacturer for that matter?

Totally agree. Though you can enable remote erase through Google, completely killing the phone may not be a good idea unless the provider has the ability to restore the phone. What happens if some underpaid and overworked CSR on the line accidently types in the wrong code and wipes out someone else phone?

What happens if I sell you my phone and then brick it remotely?

If the manufacturer can do a meaningful transfer of control over to me, I will probably end up with the same capability.

"Get the remote block when you buy a phone" is at least a nice clear message.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com