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Apple's War Against Jailbreaking Now Makes Perfect Sense
An anonymous reader writes "Apple has always been extremely anti jailbreaking, but it might now have a good reason to plug up the exploits. As Hardware 2.0 argues, Apple's new iOS 7 Activation Lock anti-theft mechanism which renders stolen handsets useless (even after wiping) unless the owner's Apple ID is entered relies on having a secure, locked-down OS. Are the days of jailbreaking iOS coming to a close?" I can see a whole new variety of phone-based ransom-ware based on this capability, too.
How about "war against security exploits that allow malicious users to gain unrestricted access to your phone?"
I guess Linux and Microsoft are both engaged in a 'war against jailbreaking' too, when they close fucking security exploits.
Jesus christ - if you want root on your device, get a device that is built to allow that. Don't bitch that a company closes fucking security holes in its software.
Whats wrong with IMEI blacklisting.
Really? You'd buy a "gray-market" iPhone without seeing that it's on, and operational? Are you that retarded, really? I can only assume that you're retarded, since I can't imagine even the most dim-witted average person forking over good money for an iPhone without verifying that the thing is functional.
What this does is it makes it *mostly pointless* for someone to steal an iPhone, unless (until) someone finds a way to circumvent this activation lock. If it's useless, that scam works a limited number of times, and you're going to have some 'splainin to do to your customers. And you're going to have some angry customers who know who you are and can provide a description to police... "Hey I bought this iPhone advertised on Craigslist, and I have reason to believe it's stolen. I got it from this guy, here's his name and description."
The phone's CPU could have a special PIN number that comes on a scratch card in the box when you buy it.
If your phone gets stolen you call your operator and read them the PIN. They send out a "kill" signal and the phone commits suicide.
This is impossible for hackers to fake - they can never know the PIN.
No sig today...
Go to an Apple store, they take it out of the box right there and activate it. Go to an AT&T store, they take it out of the box right there and activate it.
There's no reason to not say "open the shrinkwrap, plug it in, and let's verify that it's ready for activation, and not a brick."
If the person you're buying from suddenly gets all nervous and says "I gotta go man, just gimme the money and take the phone, I ain't got time for that," then there's a pretty fucking good warning that you're getting scammed.
Seriously, you people are fucking dense if you think this will do anything but reduce the number of stolen iPhones.
Whose device again? Money changed hands.