An IEEE Spectrum article recently tackled the notion of "kill switch":

"According to a U.S. defense contractor who spoke on condition of anonymity, a “European chip maker” recently built into its microprocessors a kill switch that could be accessed remotely (...) If in the future the equipment fell into hostile hands, “the French wanted a way to disable that circuit,” he said. Spectrum could not confirm this account independently. (...) So what's the best way to kill a chip? No one agrees on the most likely scenario, and in fact, there seem to be as many potential avenues of attack as there are people working on the problem. But the threats most often mentioned fall into two categories: a kill switch or a backdoor. (...) A kill switch is any manipulation of the chip's software or hardware that would cause the chip to die outright (...) But other experts counter that such ideas ignore economic realities. "

Why do I blog this? well, nothing in mind in particular, it's just that the notion of "kill switch" is intriguing from a design/ux POV. What does that mean for designs? What does that mean for users? Are there any kill switch in consumer electronics? It also reminds me of secret levels/cheatcodes/hacks in videogames or hidden graphics in Disney movie.