Anti-theft kill switches in smartphones just got a little less creepy

Some of the largest smartphone vendors and mobile carriers in the US say they have hit a milestone in the use of privacy-friendly anti-theft tools.

The 16 members of the Smartphone Anti-Theft Voluntary Committee said Tuesday that as of the end of the month, all smartphones they ship and activate in the US will not only be pre-installed with anti-theft options including remote wipe, remote lock, and restore-on-recovery, but will also give owners the option to disable those tracking and anti-theft tools if desired.