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Galaxy Note 7 Kill Switch?
If you haven't stopped using your Samsung Galaxy Note 7, you will, because they're going to push the kill switch - software that will prevent them from recharging or connecting.
In a surprise twist, at least one U.S. carrier is balking at this decision, flexing its muscle as the gatekeeper of its network. Verizon issued a flat refusal to push out Samsung's kill-switch update in the middle of the holiday season.
Samsung wants to essentially force a kill switch on the remainder of Note7 owner (even though it's already convinced 93% of them to comply). The remainder are surely keeping their phones with eyes wide open about the risk.
The Note7 probably isn't the best test case for the new digital nanny-state. A faulty battery doesn't just pose a risk to the device owner—innocent bystanders could get hurt, too.
In the 1982 movie Star Trek: The Wrath of Kahn, Khan Noonien Singh took over a small space cruiser, the USS Reliant. He then sidled up close to the USS Enterprise, put up the Reliant's shields, attacked and disabled the Enterprise, and demanded that Kirk, Spock, et al, surrender. Fortunately, Spock was able to send a special code to the Reliant's computer, which provided them with a kind of backdoor to shut down the Reliant's shields, thereby saving the day.
A kill switch. Keith Laumer thought of something similar for cars - see the police control-override from A Plague of Demons (1965).
Via Mashable.
The company plans to push out a software update next week to the potentially explosive Note7 devices in the U.S. that will prevent them from charging or connecting to a mobile network—effectively rendering them useless.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 12/13/2016)
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