It seems that the fine legislators from the great state of New York feel that smart phone sales in the state have been just a bit too robust. Well, that is my analysis based on reading the proposed bill.
The bill itself doesn’t suggest that there are too many phones being sold but rather that New York wants the manufacturers of those phones or the operating system provider to be able to decrypt and unlock the phone on command. There will be a penalty of $2,500 per phone sold if the seller or lessor knew at the time it could not be unlocked or decrypted.
Apple might be the easiest group to target in the smart phone arena. They make their own phones and they own the operating system on the phone. There would be no finger pointing between the hardware manufacturer and the operating system owner. Yet, it probably isn’t Apple or Google that would be on the hook for the $2,500 per phone fine, it would be the seller or lessor who would be subject to the fine. This would be Apple if it was sold in the Apple store, but the bulk would be the mobile phone companies who are basically selling a phone and some way to use it.
This would seem to me to be a pretty good deterrent to prevent organizations in New York for selling or leasing a smart phone to anyone. I would guess that this would be good news for people who live close to Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Vermont. Maybe, it would be even better news to small businesses in those states who sell smart phones.
After all, they didn’t make it illegal to own a smart phone, or have a smart phone that is encrypted but only to sell these phones. I guess there could be a booming business for smart phone purchases just over the border from New York, perhaps even cellular phone contracts.
(Who thought that a bill could be so short and easy to read, with only a hint of boring)
