Slashdot Mirror
Apple Can Remotely Disable iPhone Apps
mikesd81 writes "Engadget reports Apple has readied a blacklisting system which allows the company to remotely disable applications on your device. It seems the new 2.x firmware contains a URL which points to a page containing a list of 'unauthorized' apps — a move which suggests that the device makes occasional contact with Apple's servers to see if anything is amiss on your phone. Jonathan Zdziarski, the man who discovered this, explains, 'This suggests that the iPhone calls home once in a while to find out what applications it should turn off. At the moment, no apps have been blacklisted, but by all appearances, this has been added to disable applications that the user has already downloaded and paid for, if Apple so chooses to shut them down. I discovered this doing a forensic examination of an iPhone 3G. It appears to be tucked away in a configuration file deep inside CoreLocation.'" Update: 08/11 13:07 GMT by T : Reader gadgetopia writes with a small story at IT Wire, citing an interview in the Wall Street Journal, in which this remote kill-switch is "confirmed by Steve Jobs himself."
ok can we please just get all the apple fans make their excuses early on. the iphone is a fiasco but nothing will take their blinkers off, so lets just let them get it off their chest early.
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
A 12$ flash light, anyone?
Don't you mean a 512 dollar flash light?
What?
...Ãoeclblà in the URL stands for ÃoeCore Location BlacklistÃ...
Say what?
What?
10 points to the first person to brick some iphones with this!
Oh, come on don't you spoil our neat little flamefest based on mere guesswork and Anti-Apple bias with your boring and irrelevant facts, please.
I mean this if Slashdot, if you want news, please go to CNN.com. Ah, damned, they don't want their stories being diluted by facts either...
There are two rules for success:
1. Never tell everything you know.
That'll be Slashdot's lack of unicode support -_-
Jeeze! If we can put a man on the moon, you'd think that... Oh, nevermind...we can't even do that anymore either.
What?
Probably for violating an Apple business method patent.
Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
Slashdot: Well, yeah, I mean it would stop bad apps from being runaway in the wild, right?!
Microsoft: Hey guys, lets make a cellphone, and have it phone home to see if there are any bad apps running on it!
Slashdot: WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, OH MY STALLMAN, THE HUMANITY!!!!
512$ ought to be enough for anyone
It's not youPhone, it's iPhone. And so it phones.
Where can I sign up for the really expensive phone with no buttons, locked into a single provider, that I can't modify or enjoy in any way (except the approved ways I suppose).
I'd really like one of those.
Imagine if you weren't allowed to use roads because a bus company complained about your driving 3 times. --skunkpussy
No, /. sucks. Try to point out the price of something in Euros. It won't work.
"10 Euro".
Hmm, seems to work here...
Quidnam Latine loqui modo coepi?
Old news for nerds. Stuff from last week. (tm)
Hmmm, explains a lot - though I can see a lot of infringement cases come up. Including one against patent infringement lawyers. I wonder who'll represent Apple there?
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
These points you speak of... are they redeemable for cash?
which allows the company to remotely disable applications
You mean like what complete strangers currently do now on a windows pc?
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
These points you speak of... are they redeemable for cash?
They are good for one free app from the app store.
Oh, come on don't you spoil our neat little flamefest based on mere guesswork and Anti-Apple bias with your boring and irrelevant facts, please.
I mean this if Slashdot, if you want news, please go to CNN.com. Ah, damned, they don't want their stories being diluted by facts either...
Yeah! And another thing, I'm getting a kick out of negative Apple posts getting +5 and positive ones getting -1 !
I'm going to church to today because I'd never thought I'd see this on Slashdot! There's all these wars and oil and food prices are through the roof. I think I saw this in a movie about the World coming to an end with that 'Growing Pains' kid all grown up. And my cat, it slept with a dog last night.
The end is nigh!
He can use Spotlight to find it.
This is my signature.
soid st egr.hyTa rsiugm usnin
Any questions?
I have my black "CoreLocation Blacklist #1 certified by Apple" stickers ready, with a nice lime green apple logo background, in case anyone wants to buy em...
What, you think only Vista can have nice stickers like that??
WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
Not trusting them keeps them honest.
Wouldn't that make Microsoft the most honest company ever?
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
may be you should go back to NOT buying over priced, over hyped, vendor locked devices.
But what would the other pretentious hipsters think of me if I did that???
& is also your friend.
Now you have two!
"An infinite number of monkeys typing into GNU emacs would never make a good program."