Boeing's Self Destructing Phone For Private Investigators?

Who would have thought that Boeing, a plane making company would be in the cell phone business? I certainly didn’t think this would even a conversation at any point in Boeing’s history. With many phone makers already flooding a competitive market, where does a Boeing made cell phone fit into the picture? Boeing’s phone that has been named ”Black” is going to be marketed towards the government and you will not find it in retail stores (at least not yet). Boeing apparently has specific plans to market and sell this phone to government agencies related to homeland security which would also include government contractors. A lawyer was quoted in a letter that accompanied the FCC filing stating that, “The device will be marketed and sold in a manner such that low level technical and operational information about the product will not be provided to the general public. Detailed technical information distributed at trade shows will be limited or protected by non-disclosure agreements.” The letter continues to explain that there will be no serviceable parts on the phone and attempting to replace any of the parts within the phone would destroy it. The last quote states, “Any attempt to break open the casing of the device would trigger functions that would delete the data and software contained within the device and make the device inoperable.” according to reports from Geek Wire. Geek Wire also reports a statement from a Boeing spokesman, the phone will be running on the Android platform. Tech Crunch reports that the dual-SIM feature allows the phone to switch between government networks and customer networks. They also say the expansion ports allow clients to add tech security devices like bio-metric sensors for verifying the identity of an individual, add on antennas and backup batteries.

How would this phone fit into the private investigation and security industry?

Private Investigators around the world work a variety of different cases that require a significant amount of discreetness and secrecy. Information carried on a private investigator’s phone like pictures and documents need to be secured beyond password protection and fingerprint scanning technology. If their phone gets into the wrong hands investigators need to know that information within the phone will not be accessible. I am frankly surprised that a company hasn’t designed this type of phone already since devices like this have been shown in movies such as Mission Impossible. And we know that movies take ideas from real life and likewise the ideas of many technical devices have been inspired by movies and television.

Keep an eye out for more information on this as I think more companies will try to come out with similar versions of this product.

The original Boeing FCC Filing can be found by clicking here.

Boeing Website