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Samsung: We will remotely brick smart TVs looted from our warehouse

hoola Silver badge

Look at what happened when that cargo ship went down of the South Coast. Hoards of people descended on the beach to take anything they could.

BMW did something with the motorbikes that were stolen, blacklisting them for warranty and support. Whilst this may not be a wholly customer friendly approach the instances of looting and theft of brand new goods ultimately cost everyone money:

Increased insurance.

Increased product prices.

The only winners are the people who steal and then sell them. Those who buy these sorts of "too good to be true" items are equally part of the problem.

So much is connected to the Internet now anyway that it really is no surprise that this sort of action is being taken. Whether you agree is a different thing but if it starts making stolen items less desirable maybe it is a good thing. I think a lot depends on whether the action sticks with the theft of unsold goods or becomes more widely available as facility to be used as part of crime fighting. The first is easy, the second much more challenging and open to abuse.

Having said that there are plenty of devices that can be remote wiped or bricked as part of theft loss security by the owner.

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