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iPhone Takes Screenshots of Everything You Do
The_AV8R writes "Jonathan Zdziarski showed that every time you press the Home button on your iPhone, a screen capture is taken in order to produce a visual effect. This image is then cached and later deleted. Zdziarski says that there have been cases of law enforcement looking up sex offenders' old data and checking recovered screenshots." This revelation occurred in the midst of a webcast on iPhone forensics, demonstrating how to bypass the iPhone's password security (not trivial, but doable). Video from the talk is not online yet but is promised soon over at O'Reilly.
Therefore, forensics experts have used this security flaw to successfully nab criminals who have been accused of rape, murder or drug deals, Zdziarski said.
iPhone: the tool of choice for rapists, murders, and drug dealers!
Joking aside, the article is puzzling and it reeks of FUD: if the iCrooks were bad enough to get the authorities to actively track and sieze their data then they deserve to be caught for being too stoopid to buy disposable phones in cash from 7-11. Even Johnny dormroom pot- dealer knows that!
What type of incriminating things are sex ofenders doing with their iPhones.
If it's dead, you killed it.
It's pragmatic to not press the home button when doing home invasions or killing people, I guess.
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
It turns out that you browser will store all the information needed to recreate the web pages you visit! Not just a screenshot! This critical flaw appears to have present for years in all known browsers! The end is near!
Seriously? Come on. I know ./ likes to post anything related to the iPhone, especially if it involves "spying", but this is pretty uninteresting. Security is traded for speed and features on a daily basis, including places where do so presents a major risk (*cough*Outlook). This is really not too surprising since it trades at most a little privacy in exchange for a neat effect; what would you expect Apple's iCandy to do?
Don't forget the page file. The horror; your computer is constantly taking screen shots of your applications ram and storing them on the hard drive!
Think of the children!
Tibbon
tibbon.com
You must have a problem with .bash_history too, right? Caching your keystrokes! OMG!
I don't much like .bash_history, so I usually do this:
$ rm .bash_history /dev/null .bash_history
$ ln -s
Can I do something similar with the iPhone? Better not to have to think about it, even if it isn't incriminating.
Benjamin Franklin was talking about exactly this when he said:
"They who can give up essential privacy to obtain a little temporary eye-candy, deserve neither privacy nor eye-candy."
That man was way ahead of his time.
-V-
Who can decide a priori? Nobody.
-Sartre
I _am_ Jonathan Zdziarski
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If I lived in a house with all of that screaming, I'd probably be violent, too.....
Layne
Turns out iPhone is really iKnowWhatYouDidPhone!
I wrote a little app to fill the cache with screenshots of the IRS web pages. Anyone tries to investigate me, they'll have to carefully examine Publication 936, the instructions for Schedule F1, the guidelines for reporting "nanny" wages, and the like. Even if they aren't literally bored to death, they definitely won't want to look any further.
You can with the iBeer app.
(sorry, I tried to find the link)
Or iPint which is a free app
EA David Gardner -"... but the consumers have proven that actually what they want is fun."
So my iPhone takes a 'screen' shot of EVERYTHING I do? This is disturbing to say the least. Let's say, for example, I am sitting on the crapper. Does my iPhone take the shot at the beginning, or at the end? That would be good to know. Also, what if left my iPhone in the other room, you know, for privacy. Will my iPhone take a screen shot of me not being in the room, but in another room, you know, doing something? Wow! Everything I do? It's mind-boggolin g (sp?)
When did people start eBaying 5-digit UIDs?