Nov 20, 2013 05:04 PM EST By Jaleesa Baulkman, UniversityHerald Reporter

A proposition to install a built-in anti-theft measure known as a "kill switch" into smartphones has been rejected by the nation's biggest mobile phone carriers, Fox News reported.

Samsung Electronics' proposal to preload phones with Absolute Lojack anti-theft software, which would render stolen or lost phones inoperable was turned down by AT&T Inc., Sprint Corp., T-Mobile US Inc, Verizon Wireless and Verizon Wireless, according to Fox News.

The wireless industry believes the software could be exploited by hackers. They could use the kill switch to disable someone's smartphone and once trigged, is difficult to undo.

Supporters of the measure said the process is reversible and believe the real reason carriers don't want the feature is because it would cause them to lose money in insurance plans and sales of replacement phones.

"I think that this is motivated by profit," San Francisco district attorney George Gascon told CNN.

According to Fox News, In July, Samsung officials told the San Francisco district attorney's office phone carriers were resisting the anti-theft measure, and prosecutors have recently reviewed emails between a senior vice president at Samsung and a software developer about the issue.

"These emails suggest that the carriers are rejecting a technological solution so they can continue to shake down their customers for billions of dollars in [theft] insurance premiums," Gascon said. "I'm incensed. ... This is a solution that has the potential to end the victimization of their customers."

Gascon and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who both spearhead the Secure Our Smartphones Initiative, a coalition of law enforcement, legislators from across the country, and consumer advocates to end the trend of robberies involving mobile communications devices, have demanded manufacturers create kill switches to combat smartphone theft, Fox reported.

The Secure Our Smartphones Initiative is calling for smartphone makers and the wireless industry to protect consumers from mobile theft.

Apple recently introduced a kill-switch-like option called Activation Lock to iPhones and iPads with the release of its latest mobile operating system, iOS 7.

"Apple has been able to show the industry that this can be done," Gascon told CNN.

CTIA-The Wireless Association, a trade group for wireless providers, told Fox News a permanent kill switch has serious risks, including "potential vulnerability" to being exploited by hackers, who could use the software to disable mobile devices and "lock out not only individuals' phones but also phones used by entities such as the Department of Defense, Homeland Security and law enforcement agencies.

"The problem is how do you trigger a kill switch in a secure manner and not be compromised by a third party and be subjected to hacking," James Moran, a security adviser with the GSMA, a United Kingdom wireless trade group that's overseen a global stolen mobile phone database and is helping to create the U.S. version, told Fox News.

CTIA told CNN an alternative to the kill switch is a "a global database of smartphones that would make it harder for a stolen device to be reactivated."

However, unless all the carriers around the world participated in this network, thieves could ship stolen devices to other countries and sell them there.

About 1 in 3 U.S. robberies involve phone theft, according to the Federal Communications Commission. Lost and stolen mobile devices -- mostly smartphones -- cost consumers more than $30 billion last year, according to a study cited by Schneiderman in June.

Despite being rebuffed by smartphone carriers, Samsung said it's continuing to cooperate with Gascon, Schneiderman and the carriers on an anti-theft solution.

"We are working with the leaders of the Secure Our Smartphones (SOS) Initiative to incorporate the perspective of law enforcement agencies," Samsung spokeswoman Jessica Redman told Fox News. "We will continue to work with them and our wireless carrier partners toward our common goal of stopping smartphone theft."

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