California legislators turned down a bill on Thursday that would require anti-theft software to be installed and automatically enabled on all smartphones sold in-state.
The bill saw a narrow rejection, falling short of the 21 votes needed to move to the state assembly, according to PC World.
The proposed law garnered 19 yes's and 17 no's, following a debated that lasted 40 minutes.
Leading supporter of the bid California State Sen. Mark Leno said cellphone robberies are an "epidemic", CNET reported. The Federal Communications Commission reported that theft of a mobile device is involved in one of every three robberies in the U.S. In San Francisco, more than half of robberies include phones and tablets, and over 75 percent of robberies in the neighboring city of Oakland involve cellphones as well. Consumer Reports added that almost 1.6 million Americans were victims of smartphone theft in 2012.
"This technology exists, and until it is pre-enabled on every new phone purchased, consumers will continue to be innocent victims of thieves who bank on the fact that these devices can be resold at a profit on the black market," Leno said in a statement.
The wireless carrier industry sees this result as a victory, and argues that legislating "kill switch" technology allows hackers to wipe away consumers' data on their phones. Government officials argue, however, that the industry is more focused on money, especially on potentially losing business from insurance partners, CNET reported.
San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon, who also spearheaded the bill, said the legislation's failure was "disheartening," PC World reported.
"This technology already exists, but it needs to be deployed in a way which doesn't rely on consumers to seek out the solutions and turn them on," he said. "That's all this legislation does, it takes existing technology and makes it a standard feature on all smartphones."
Gascon added that the senators who voted against the bill chose "to protect billion dollar industry profits over the safety of the constituents they were elected to serve."
