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."

Comments

It's not a bug!

[Vinegar Joe]

It's a feature.

Core Location Blacklist

[TheGS]

Other sites (like Daring Fireball) have noticed that the blacklist is hidden in CoreLocation (an API that uses various means - including GPS - to determine the phone's physical location), so here's how I choose to interpret it...

EvilApp(tm): I'm going to secretly log your geospatial location and travel history (and how many times you've used a public toilet in the last week) using the built-in CoreLocation API and send the information to my creators for their nefarious purposes.
Core Location Blacklist: Oh no you don't!

It's a CoreLocation Blacklist

[jamrock]

The reason the file is buried deep inside CoreLocation is because it's a blacklist for preventing specifically listed applications from accessing CoreLocation, not for disabling them. This is for obvious privacy reasons. Here's Gruber's explanation from a few days ago.

Re:Refunds

[cowscows]

Then don't buy one, and go be happy. For every competent computer admin that reads /. today, there are thousands of other people out in the world who want to use a phone, and want to be able to download new programs, and who will willingly admit that they don't know that much about computers/software/etc. There are lots of people who are perfectly happy having someone take responsibility for helping them avoid malware. This kill-switch isn't an affront to them, it's a valuable feature.

And they are Apple's primary market. I know it's hard for some people to accept, but your competence with computers doesn't automatically make you the prime target, even for a computer manufacturer. People like you are creating things such as Linux and Android for themselves and other people like them. Go play in their sandbox, they'll be happy to have you.