Kill switch
Encyclopedia
Kill switch, also called an e-stop, is a security
measure used to shut off a device in an emergency situation in which it cannot be shut down in the usual manner. Unlike a normal shut down, which shuts down all systems naturally and turns the machine off without damaging it, a kill switch is designed to completely abort the operation at all costs, and be configured so that it is quick to operate, and relatively obvious to someone other than the usual operator. It might have some protection to prevent accidental operation, but which can be quickly moved out of the way.
Often, they are used to protect people from sustaining an injury or being killed, in which case damaging the machine may be considered to be acceptable.
(for other names, see alternative names), as its name suggests, is a device intended to stop a machine in case the human operator becomes incapacitated, and is a form of fail-safe. They are commonly used in locomotive
s, tower cranes, freight elevators, lawn mower
s, tractors, jet ski
s, outboard motors, snowblowers and snowmobile
s.
s and machine
ry if the operator loses control or is ejected, then it is called dead man's switch
. A common example of this would be the kill switches used by boat
ers wherein a cord connects the kill switch to the operator (usually by their life jacket
s), and if the operator is thrown overboard in an accident, the cord will pull the switch and immediately shut down the vessel's engine.
NASCAR
(National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) requires all their stock cars to be equipped with a steering wheel
-mounted kill switch, in case the accelerator pedal sticks and the driver needs to shut down the engine.
Kill switches are also used on land vehicles as an Anti-theft system
and as an emergency power off. Such devices are often equipped into bait car
s and set up so that observing police can trigger the switch remotely.
s or any other device that pumps large amounts of explosive
or flammable
chemicals
. There is commonly a single kill switch for all pumps at a pumping station
. Also the kill switch is used on such things as industrial band saws and belt sanders. Kill switches are also found on school-use electric powered tools such as drills and wood/metal lathes.
, such as a guitar
or bass guitar
, may have a kill switch, also known as a stutter switch. It is used infrequently but most commonly in heavy metal music
. Contrary to popular belief, a kill switch doesn't break the circuit but works by switching between the hot signal from a pick-up and the ground signal. A typical way of achieving this is (on a guitar with a volume control for each pick-up) by turning down the volume on one of the pick-ups then alternating the pick-up selector switch between that pick-up and one with the volume turned all the way up. They are sometimes used when a singer doubles as a guitar player and isn't playing or sometimes used as an effect during a song. Tom Morello
of Rage Against the Machine
and Audioslave
, Buckethead
(for example, "Jordan
" and "Circarama"), Ace Frehley
of Kiss
(such as in the intro to the song "Cold Gin" from the Kiss Alive! album and during his concert solos documented in numerous 1970s video bootlegs), and Jonny Greenwood
of Radiohead
are well known for their use of the kill switch. Jack White
uses a kill switch during some of his performances and in songs like "Icky Thump
". Greg Ginn
of Black Flag
achieved the notorious feedback scream which opens most of the tracks on Damaged
with a kill switch. Kill switches are rarely a feature in production model instruments, although they are mainly an after-market modification and a feature on custom shop instruments. The kill switch circuit can also be built into an effects pedal and controlled by a foot switch.
s often use a safety key that the runner clips to his waist, and if he falls or trips, the safety key is pulled out, and the machine stops immediately. In other cases treadmills use a more traditional kill switch, often mounted towards the rear of one of the hand-railings.
feature, most notably in Windows Vista
. It renders the software essentially useless to users running what is determined by the software author to be an illegitimately obtained, or pirated, copy. In the example of Microsoft
Windows, the company developed a verification tool named Windows Genuine Advantage
, that originally activated a kill switch, or reduced functionality mode, on what Microsoft's mandatory software deemed to be an unlicensed copy of the operating system. Software kill switches have been shown to have varying degrees of success, as false positives have been known to occur, prompting some vendors like Microsoft to "turn off" the software kill switch in response to market pressure.
There is some anecdotal evidence that some software vendors install kill switches in their software to enforce planned obsolescence
, also known as a forced upgrade. This can cause considerable disruption
in said customer's business functions.
(I-CT) introduced a bill called "Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act
of 2010", which he co-wrote with Senator Susan Collins
(R-ME) and Senator Thomas Carper (D-DE). If signed into law, this controversial bill, which the American media dubbed the Kill switch bill, would grant the President
emergency powers over the Internet. Other parts of the bill focus on the establishment of an Office of Cyberspace Policy and on its missions, as well as on the coordination of cyberspace policy at the federal level. Interviewed by Candy Crowley
on CNN
's State of the Union, Lieberman claimed "it is a fact cyber war is going in some sense right now", "a cyber attack on America [could] do as much or more damage [...] by incapacitating our banks, our communications, our finance, our transportation, as a conventional war attack". If national security were to be severely threatened by a cyber attack, broadband providers, search engines, software firms and other major players in the Telecommunications/Computer/Internet industry could be required to immediately comply and implement any emergency measure taken; for most of the month of June, media coverage of the bill insisted on this so-called 'Kill switch' provision, said to be included in the bill.
However, after this proposal became controversial, in large part due to concerns that it granted too much power to the President and threatened freedom of speech
, all three co-authors of the bill issued a statement claiming that instead, the bill "[narrowed] existing broad Presidential authority to take over telecommunications networks", and Senator Lieberman contended that the bill did not seek to make a 'Kill switch' option available ("the President will never take over -- the government should never take over the Internet"), but instead insisted that serious steps had to be taken in order to counter a potential mass scale cyber attack. "Right now, China, the government, can disconnect parts of its Internet in a case of war. We need to have that here, too," he said on Candy Crowley's State of the Union on CNN. This remark sparked another controversy, and led Comedy Central
's Jon Stewart
to make fun of Senator Lieberman for bringing up the example of China
, which is notorious for its lack of regard for freedom of speech, on his satirical program The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
Section 249 of the bill states that "the President may issue a declaration of a national cyber emergency to covered critical infrastructure," in which case a response plan is implemented. This plan shall consist of "measures or actions necessary to preserve the reliable operation, and mitigate or remediate the consequences of the potential disruption, of covered critical infrastructure". Said measures should "represent the least disruptive means feasible to the operations of the covered critical infrastructure" and "shall cease to have effect not later than 30 days after the date on which the President issued the declaration of a national cyber emergency" unless the President seeks to extend them, with the approval of the Director of the Office of Cyberspace Policy established by the bill.
Security
Security is the degree of protection against danger, damage, loss, and crime. Security as a form of protection are structures and processes that provide or improve security as a condition. The Institute for Security and Open Methodologies in the OSSTMM 3 defines security as "a form of protection...
measure used to shut off a device in an emergency situation in which it cannot be shut down in the usual manner. Unlike a normal shut down, which shuts down all systems naturally and turns the machine off without damaging it, a kill switch is designed to completely abort the operation at all costs, and be configured so that it is quick to operate, and relatively obvious to someone other than the usual operator. It might have some protection to prevent accidental operation, but which can be quickly moved out of the way.
Often, they are used to protect people from sustaining an injury or being killed, in which case damaging the machine may be considered to be acceptable.
Physical world applications
A similar system, usually called a dead man's switchDead man's switch
A dead man's switch is a switch that is automatically operated in case the human operator becomes incapacitated, such as through death or loss of consciousness....
(for other names, see alternative names), as its name suggests, is a device intended to stop a machine in case the human operator becomes incapacitated, and is a form of fail-safe. They are commonly used in locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...
s, tower cranes, freight elevators, lawn mower
Lawn mower
A lawn mower is a machine that uses a revolving blade or blades to cut a lawn at an even length.Lawn mowers employing a blade that rotates about a vertical axis are known as rotary mowers, while those employing a blade assembly that rotates about a horizontal axis are known as cylinder or reel...
s, tractors, jet ski
Jet ski
Jet Ski is the brand name of a personal watercraft manufactured by Kawasaki Heavy Industries. The name is sometimes mistakenly used by those unfamiliar with the personal watercraft industry to refer to any type of personal watercraft; however, the name is a valid trademark registered with the...
s, outboard motors, snowblowers and snowmobile
Snowmobile
A snowmobile, also known in some places as a snowmachine, or sled,is a land vehicle for winter travel on snow. Designed to be operated on snow and ice, they require no road or trail. Design variations enable some machines to operate in deep snow or forests; most are used on open terrain, including...
s.
Vehicles
If it is used to shut down vehicleVehicle
A vehicle is a device that is designed or used to transport people or cargo. Most often vehicles are manufactured, such as bicycles, cars, motorcycles, trains, ships, boats, and aircraft....
s and machine
Machine
A machine manages power to accomplish a task, examples include, a mechanical system, a computing system, an electronic system, and a molecular machine. In common usage, the meaning is that of a device having parts that perform or assist in performing any type of work...
ry if the operator loses control or is ejected, then it is called dead man's switch
Dead man's switch
A dead man's switch is a switch that is automatically operated in case the human operator becomes incapacitated, such as through death or loss of consciousness....
. A common example of this would be the kill switches used by boat
Boat
A boat is a watercraft of any size designed to float or plane, to provide passage across water. Usually this water will be inland or in protected coastal areas. However, boats such as the whaleboat were designed to be operated from a ship in an offshore environment. In naval terms, a boat is a...
ers wherein a cord connects the kill switch to the operator (usually by their life jacket
Personal flotation device
A personal flotation device is a device designed to assist a wearer, either conscious or unconscious, to keep afloat.Devices designed and approved by authorities for use by...
s), and if the operator is thrown overboard in an accident, the cord will pull the switch and immediately shut down the vessel's engine.
NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
(National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) requires all their stock cars to be equipped with a steering wheel
Steering wheel
A steering wheel is a type of steering control in vehicles and vessels ....
-mounted kill switch, in case the accelerator pedal sticks and the driver needs to shut down the engine.
Kill switches are also used on land vehicles as an Anti-theft system
Anti-theft system
An anti-theft system is any device or method used to prevent or deter the unauthorized appropriation of items considered valuable. Theft is one of the most common and oldest criminal behaviours...
and as an emergency power off. Such devices are often equipped into bait car
Bait car
A bait car, also called a decoy car, is a vehicle used by law enforcement agencies to capture car thieves. The vehicles are modified, with features including GPS tracking and audio/video surveillance technology, and can be remotely monitored and controlled...
s and set up so that observing police can trigger the switch remotely.
Machinery
A kill switch is also used for gasoline pumpFuel dispenser
A fuel dispenser is a machine at a filling station that is used to pump gasoline, diesel, CNG, CGH2, HCNG, LPG, LH2, ethanol fuel, biofuels like biodiesel, kerosene, or other types of fuel into vehicles...
s or any other device that pumps large amounts of explosive
Explosive material
An explosive material, also called an explosive, is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure...
or flammable
Flammability
Flammability is defined as how easily something will burn or ignite, causing fire or combustion. The degree of difficulty required to cause the combustion of a substance is quantified through fire testing. Internationally, a variety of test protocols exist to quantify flammability...
chemicals
Chemical substance
In chemistry, a chemical substance is a form of matter that has constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. It cannot be separated into components by physical separation methods, i.e. without breaking chemical bonds. They can be solids, liquids or gases.Chemical substances are...
. There is commonly a single kill switch for all pumps at a pumping station
Pumping station
Pumping stations are facilities including pumps and equipment for pumping fluids from one place to another. They are used for a variety of infrastructure systems, such as the supply of water to canals, the drainage of low-lying land, and the removal of sewage to processing sites.A pumping station...
. Also the kill switch is used on such things as industrial band saws and belt sanders. Kill switches are also found on school-use electric powered tools such as drills and wood/metal lathes.
Musical instruments
An electric musical instrumentMusical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
, such as a guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
or bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, may have a kill switch, also known as a stutter switch. It is used infrequently but most commonly in heavy metal music
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
. Contrary to popular belief, a kill switch doesn't break the circuit but works by switching between the hot signal from a pick-up and the ground signal. A typical way of achieving this is (on a guitar with a volume control for each pick-up) by turning down the volume on one of the pick-ups then alternating the pick-up selector switch between that pick-up and one with the volume turned all the way up. They are sometimes used when a singer doubles as a guitar player and isn't playing or sometimes used as an effect during a song. Tom Morello
Tom Morello
Thomas Baptiste "Tom" Morello is a Grammy Award-winning American guitarist best known for his tenure with the bands Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave, his acoustic solo act The Nightwatchman, and his newest group, Street Sweeper Social Club...
of Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group's line-up consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerford, guitarist Tom Morello and drummer Brad Wilk...
and Audioslave
Audioslave
Audioslave was an American rock supergroup that formed in Los Angeles, California in 2001. It consisted of former Soundgarden lead singer/rhythm guitarist Chris Cornell and the former instrumentalists of Rage Against the Machine: Tom Morello , Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk...
, Buckethead
Buckethead
Brian Carroll , better known by his stage name Buckethead, is a guitarist and multi instrumentalist who has worked within several genres of music. He has released 34 studio albums, four special releases and one EP. He has performed on over 50 more albums by other artists...
(for example, "Jordan
Jordan (song)
"Jordan" is a song by American musician Buckethead. Originally featured as a playable track on the 2006 music video game Guitar Hero II, "Jordan" was officially released as a downloadable single via iTunes on August 18, 2009.-Background:...
" and "Circarama"), Ace Frehley
Ace Frehley
Paul Daniel "Ace" Frehley is an American musician best known as the lead guitarist of the rock band Kiss. He took on the persona of the "Spaceman" or "Space Ace" when the band adopted costumes and theatrics...
of Kiss
KISS (band)
Kiss is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973. Well-known for its members' face paint and flamboyant stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid to late 1970s on the basis of their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood spitting,...
(such as in the intro to the song "Cold Gin" from the Kiss Alive! album and during his concert solos documented in numerous 1970s video bootlegs), and Jonny Greenwood
Jonny Greenwood
Jonathan Richard Guy "Jonny" Greenwood is an English musician and composer, best known as a member of the English rock band Radiohead. Greenwood is a multi-instrumentalist, but serves mainly as lead guitarist and keyboard player. In addition to guitar and keyboard, he plays viola, harmonica,...
of Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...
are well known for their use of the kill switch. Jack White
Jack White (musician)
Jack White , often credited as Jack White III, is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and occasional actor...
uses a kill switch during some of his performances and in songs like "Icky Thump
Icky Thump
Icky Thump is the sixth and final studio album by US alternative rock band The White Stripes. It was released June 15, 2007 in Germany, June 18, 2007 in the rest of Europe, and June 19, 2007 in the rest of the world. It was the band's first album on Warner Bros...
". Greg Ginn
Greg Ginn
Gregory Regis Ginn is a guitarist, songwriter, and singer. He is best known for being the leader of and primary songwriter for the hardcore punk band Black Flag, which he founded and led from 1976 to 1986....
of Black Flag
Black Flag (band)
Black Flag was an American punk rock band formed in 1976 in Hermosa Beach, California. The band was established by Greg Ginn, the guitarist, primary songwriter and sole continuous member through multiple personnel changes in the band...
achieved the notorious feedback scream which opens most of the tracks on Damaged
Damaged (Black Flag album)
Damaged is the debut studio album by the American hardcore punk band Black Flag. It was released in December 1981 through SST Records. In 2003, the album was ranked number 340 on Rolling Stones list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time....
with a kill switch. Kill switches are rarely a feature in production model instruments, although they are mainly an after-market modification and a feature on custom shop instruments. The kill switch circuit can also be built into an effects pedal and controlled by a foot switch.
Gym
TreadmillTreadmill
A treadmill is an exercise machine for running or walking while staying in one place. The word treadmill traditionally refers to a type of mill which was operated by a person or animal treading steps of a wheel to grind grain...
s often use a safety key that the runner clips to his waist, and if he falls or trips, the safety key is pulled out, and the machine stops immediately. In other cases treadmills use a more traditional kill switch, often mounted towards the rear of one of the hand-railings.
Computer software
The concept of "kill switch" may also be applied to software as an anti-piracyAnti-piracy
Anti-piracy is a term used to describe countermeasures against maritime piracy but moreoften by some to describe the attempt to prevent copyright infringement, counterfeiting, and other violations of intellectual-property rights....
feature, most notably in Windows Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
. It renders the software essentially useless to users running what is determined by the software author to be an illegitimately obtained, or pirated, copy. In the example of Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
Windows, the company developed a verification tool named Windows Genuine Advantage
Windows Genuine Advantage
Windows Genuine Advantage is an anti-piracy system created by Microsoft that enforces online validation of the licensing of several recent Microsoft Windows operating systems when accessing several services, such as Windows Update, and downloading Windows components from the Microsoft Download...
, that originally activated a kill switch, or reduced functionality mode, on what Microsoft's mandatory software deemed to be an unlicensed copy of the operating system. Software kill switches have been shown to have varying degrees of success, as false positives have been known to occur, prompting some vendors like Microsoft to "turn off" the software kill switch in response to market pressure.
There is some anecdotal evidence that some software vendors install kill switches in their software to enforce planned obsolescence
Planned obsolescence
Planned obsolescence or built-in obsolescence in industrial design is a policy of deliberately planning or designing a product with a limited useful life, so it will become obsolete or nonfunctional after a certain period of time...
, also known as a forced upgrade. This can cause considerable disruption
in said customer's business functions.
Computer security policy
This section on The Kill Switch applies to the United States' telecommunications policy: On June 19, 2010, Senator Joe LiebermanJoe Lieberman
Joseph Isadore "Joe" Lieberman is the senior United States Senator from Connecticut. A former member of the Democratic Party, he was the party's nominee for Vice President in the 2000 election. Currently an independent, he remains closely affiliated with the party.Born in Stamford, Connecticut,...
(I-CT) introduced a bill called "Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act
Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act
The Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act of 2010 is a bill introduced in the United States Senate by Joe Lieberman , Susan Collins , and Tom Carper on June 10, 2010...
of 2010", which he co-wrote with Senator Susan Collins
Susan Collins
Susan Margaret Collins is the junior United States Senator from Maine and a member of the Republican Party. First elected to the Senate in 1996, she is the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs...
(R-ME) and Senator Thomas Carper (D-DE). If signed into law, this controversial bill, which the American media dubbed the Kill switch bill, would grant the President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
emergency powers over the Internet. Other parts of the bill focus on the establishment of an Office of Cyberspace Policy and on its missions, as well as on the coordination of cyberspace policy at the federal level. Interviewed by Candy Crowley
Candy Crowley
Candy Alt Crowley is a CNN anchor and Chief Political Correspondent, specializing in U.S. presidential, gubernatorial, and Senate elections. She is based in CNN's Washington bureau, and hosted Inside Politics in place of Judy Woodruff before the show was replaced with The Situation Room. Crowley...
on CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
's State of the Union, Lieberman claimed "it is a fact cyber war is going in some sense right now", "a cyber attack on America [could] do as much or more damage [...] by incapacitating our banks, our communications, our finance, our transportation, as a conventional war attack". If national security were to be severely threatened by a cyber attack, broadband providers, search engines, software firms and other major players in the Telecommunications/Computer/Internet industry could be required to immediately comply and implement any emergency measure taken; for most of the month of June, media coverage of the bill insisted on this so-called 'Kill switch' provision, said to be included in the bill.
However, after this proposal became controversial, in large part due to concerns that it granted too much power to the President and threatened freedom of speech
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
, all three co-authors of the bill issued a statement claiming that instead, the bill "[narrowed] existing broad Presidential authority to take over telecommunications networks", and Senator Lieberman contended that the bill did not seek to make a 'Kill switch' option available ("the President will never take over -- the government should never take over the Internet"), but instead insisted that serious steps had to be taken in order to counter a potential mass scale cyber attack. "Right now, China, the government, can disconnect parts of its Internet in a case of war. We need to have that here, too," he said on Candy Crowley's State of the Union on CNN. This remark sparked another controversy, and led Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
's Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian...
to make fun of Senator Lieberman for bringing up the example of China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, which is notorious for its lack of regard for freedom of speech, on his satirical program The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
Section 249 of the bill states that "the President may issue a declaration of a national cyber emergency to covered critical infrastructure," in which case a response plan is implemented. This plan shall consist of "measures or actions necessary to preserve the reliable operation, and mitigate or remediate the consequences of the potential disruption, of covered critical infrastructure". Said measures should "represent the least disruptive means feasible to the operations of the covered critical infrastructure" and "shall cease to have effect not later than 30 days after the date on which the President issued the declaration of a national cyber emergency" unless the President seeks to extend them, with the approval of the Director of the Office of Cyberspace Policy established by the bill.