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Apple Patents Remotely Disabling Jailbroken Phones

Posted by Soulskill on from the trying-to-put-the-break-in-jailbreak dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Apple yesterday applied for a patent to allow remotely disabling electronic devices when 'unauthorized usage' is detected. The patent application covers using the camera to take pictures of the unauthorized user and using GPS to determine location, and it involves ascertaining whether the phone has been hacked or jailbroken, using those as criteria for detecting 'suspicious behavior.' The patent would allow the carrier or any other 'authorized' party to disable or restrict the functionality of the device. Is this Apple's latest tool to thwart jailbreaking?"

4 of 381 comments (clear)

  1. A new low by domulys · · Score: 1, Troll

    Using the camera to take pictures of the user ... assessing GPS to determine location ... remotely disabling device.

    Apple, you've finally lived down to my expectations (and then some).

  2. Re:Holy shit. by Megaweapon · · Score: 1, Troll

    But it's "Steve", man! Don't you trust Steve to look after our best interests?? With Steve all things are possible.

    --
    I'm sure "SlashdotMedia" will improve on all the wonders that Dice Holdings blessed us all with
  3. Ugghh.... by Conspiracy_Of_Doves · · Score: 1, Troll

    That they are even attempting this only further cements my position that I will never, EVER buy anything from Apple.

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    Technoli
  4. Re:No, but thanks for playing by Powder_Keg_Monkey · · Score: 1, Troll

    You are wrong. The patent specification expressly contemplates remote locking of phones that are jailbroken. From the patent specification: To detect an unauthorized user, process 610 of FIG. 6 b can determine whether particular activities are identified at step 612 . As described above, the particular activities can include any activities indicating suspicious behavior such as, for example, entering an incorrect password a predetermined number of times in a row, entering an incorrect password a predetermined number of times within a period of time, hacking the electronic device, ___jailbreaking___ the electronic device, unlocking of the electronic device, removing a SIM card from the electronic device, moving the electronic device a predetermined distance from a synced device, or any combination of the above. If a particular activity is identified, the current user can be detected as an unauthorized user at step 614 . If, however, a particular activity is not identified, process 610 can end at step 616 .