It is not as easy as a Windows virus.
GSM phones have had the kill feature since the dawn of GSM. All providers stopped using it after some wholesale phone trader cloned the IMEI number and firmware from a phone in Denmark to about a thousand phones sold in Spain. When the original phone got stolen in Denmark, a thousand people in Spain were wondering why their phone stopped working. After that, ALL providers I know about, abandoned the idea, but the system is still present in every GSM.
So, even if it sounds like a good idea at first, reality already proved it wasn't too bright. I'm pretty sure Ericsson made a similar system, wich can only be activated from the network. Up until now, no GSM virus has been able to activate the kill switch, AFAIK. Of course, this doesn't mean it's not possible, just a lot harder than making a Windows virus. And, there's no real incentive. You can't make money that way, and that's the direction all malware seems to be taking lately.
Venezuela tested Diebold voting machines. There's even a remarkable email conversation about it out there on the intertubes. Venezuela asked one of the Diebold techs why there were several ways to corrupt elections. Answer from Diebold's tech: "My boss told me to make 'em like that"...
Venezuela rejected Diebold's machines. They developed an Open Source solution wich is in use in several countries now.
All this is old news.
I really don 't understand why Diebold execs still aren 't in jail. After all, some of them have been there before.
I don't like DRM. I have no music or other content with DRM. I avoid DRM at all cost.
But Apple's DRM is the simplest to circumvent. You don't even need software to get rid of it. So, why boycott the least worrysome DRM on the market?
I, for one have better things to do...
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It is not as easy as a Windows virus. GSM phones have had the kill feature since the dawn of GSM. All providers stopped using it after some wholesale phone trader cloned the IMEI number and firmware from a phone in Denmark to about a thousand phones sold in Spain. When the original phone got stolen in Denmark, a thousand people in Spain were wondering why their phone stopped working. After that, ALL providers I know about, abandoned the idea, but the system is still present in every GSM. So, even if it sounds like a good idea at first, reality already proved it wasn't too bright. I'm pretty sure Ericsson made a similar system, wich can only be activated from the network. Up until now, no GSM virus has been able to activate the kill switch, AFAIK. Of course, this doesn't mean it's not possible, just a lot harder than making a Windows virus. And, there's no real incentive. You can't make money that way, and that's the direction all malware seems to be taking lately.
Venezuela tested Diebold voting machines. There's even a remarkable email conversation about it out there on the intertubes. Venezuela asked one of the Diebold techs why there were several ways to corrupt elections. Answer from Diebold's tech: "My boss told me to make 'em like that"... Venezuela rejected Diebold's machines. They developed an Open Source solution wich is in use in several countries now. All this is old news. I really don 't understand why Diebold execs still aren 't in jail. After all, some of them have been there before.
I don't like DRM. I have no music or other content with DRM. I avoid DRM at all cost. But Apple's DRM is the simplest to circumvent. You don't even need software to get rid of it. So, why boycott the least worrysome DRM on the market? I, for one have better things to do...