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Is Apple Tracking iPhone Users Through IMEI?
ariefwn writes ""As I sit here applying a new layer of Reynolds tin foil to my international hat of conspiracy, its been proven that Apple tracks iPhone usage and tracks IMEI numbers of all their iPhones worldwide. Hidden in the code of the 'Stocks' and 'Weather' widgets is a string that sends the IMEI of your phone to a specialized URL that Apple collects. I wonder if there will be any implications to owners of hacked iPhones..."
While I'm not an economist or stockbroker, it seems to me that if apple knows which shares iphoners are most interested in, at a given time, this is extremely valuable information, e.g. to spot trends. Can't be bothered to read the user-agreement (have no iphone) but curious to know whether it gives apple the right to sell this data on to large brokers or even act upon the intel themselves?
Gosh, thanks. That must be why the other ships call me Meatfucker -- GCU Grey Area (Eccentric)
Ever think maybe there was a more benign reason for this? Like to perhaps help in the retrieval of a stolen phone? Granted, it is probably not great for privacy, but if explicitly disclosed a savvy phone stealer could just disable or modify the apps. *This by no means excuses apple's privacy violations.
Get a web developer
The Apple IMEI is TEA encrytped according to the phone's hardware ID and NOR ID. Both of these numbers can be found with a few tools found at iphone-elite.org. The IMEI lives at 0xA003FAB00 address. All you need to do is write out your seczone (0xA003FA000), TEA encrypt a nice Motorola RAZR IMEI number at offset 0xB00, and write it back to your NOR...and voila...your iPhone now looks like a Motorola RAZR.