Hi.
While I have nothing but sympathy for anyone who finds themselves in a bind over these security requirements, I do think they are necessary.
"Killswitch," as it's known, is a Google requirement that we cannot avoid. It is implemented on all Android phones, and for very good reason. Other smartphone operating systems have similar requirements.
Our phones carry enormous amounts of sensitive personal information. Before these security measures were put in place, there was significant pressure to implement them. People needed to protect their phones and the information on them, including credit information, personal photos and emails, and other items. Additionally, businesses demand that a phone used for work be secure.
The implementation also means that a thief cannot simply steal a phone, reset it, and use it or sell it. A stolen phone is now mostly useless.
In today's digital world, your passwords are simply essential information. We may not like it, but we can't afford to share them or forget them. In some cases the cost of recovering a password is easy, others difficult. If you lose more than one key piece of info -- for example, password and email account access -- the degree of difficulty goes way up.
We can do a few things. One, pass on your feedback on the need for a warning. Almost no one reads the manual, but if it helps anyone it could be worth doing. Second, we do have a process similar to what is described above, for having a phone reflashed if the proper proof of ownership is available. We can reinforce this with agents.
Glad your retailer was able to help.
Regards,
Matt
forums manager
Please do not PM me - if you have issues, search the forums for threads on your topic and post there, or start a new thread. Thanks!