SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Top prosecutors in San Francisco and New York are set to announce the formation of a nationwide initiative and coalition of police, prosecutors and other officials in an attempt to stop a surge in smartphone thefts.
Officials say San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman plan to announce the Save Our Smartphones Initiative in New York on Thursday.
The announcement comes on the same day Gascon and Schneiderman are scheduled to co-host a "Smartphone Summit" with representatives from Apple Inc., Samsung Electronics Co., Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp.
Among the moves the prosecutors seek is the industry-wide introduction of a "kill switch" to render stolen phones worthless.
Apple has said such a feature would be part of its iOS7 smartphone software released in the fall.
