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Apple Patents Remotely Disabling Jailbroken Phones
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?"
Thanks for providing the incentive for the Anti-Apple app.
Yours In Vladivostok
Kilgore Trout
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).
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
That they are even attempting this only further cements my position that I will never, EVER buy anything from Apple.
Technoli
Is that because you don't support allowing the legitimate owner to disable a stolen device? Or is it because you didn't bother reading the article, because you're going to hate Apple no matter what the facts are anyway?
[0005]In some embodiments, an unauthorized user can be detected by noting particular activities that can indicate suspicious behavior. For example, activities such as entering an incorrect password a predetermined number of times in a row, hacking of the electronic device, jailbreaking of the electronic device, unlocking of the electronic device, removing a SIM card from the electronic device, or moving a predetermined distance away from a synced device can be used to detect an unauthorized user.
Perhaps when they say, "anti-theft," they are using a definition of "theft" that includes "using it in a way that is not prescribed by Apple."
Palm trees and 8
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 .
WTF was this modded Troll?