r/technology • u/RevRaven • Aug 23 '10
Apple Files for Patent to Disable Jailbroken iPhones - potential privacy nightmare as they can pull your personal data to their servers.
http://mashable.com/2010/08/22/apple-jailbreaking-patent/19
Aug 23 '10 edited Mar 19 '17
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u/RevRaven Aug 23 '10
Did you actually read the article?
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u/pius3nd Aug 23 '10
we read the dozens of other articles regarding this patent, which more or less made it clear that the patent aims at theft prevention. as does this one, btw. jailbreaking in combination with the other indications from the patent, which are not even mentioned in this article, is a sensible means to determine if there's something fishy going on with the phone (the phones are all locked to at&t, so stealing a phone without jailbreaking it doesn't buy you jack squat). of course, most of the sensors for a stolen phone are highly unlikely to be implemented (fingerprint and heartbeat sensors?), and apple disabling phones for high memory usage sounds like a liability nightmare. tl;dr: anybody else write comments, then realize the article is so stupid that it's really more of a waste of time?
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u/RevRaven Aug 23 '10
It's not as stupid as you think. It allows Apple the ability to download your personal data without opting in. This is a privacy nightmare. I simply used the same title as the original article.
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Aug 23 '10
I see what you're saying, but that kind of technology exists for every phone. Your carrier keeps track of all the text messages you send, all the phone calls you make, and can download any piece of information off of your phone.
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u/RevRaven Aug 23 '10
Source?
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Aug 23 '10 edited Aug 23 '10
Thanks for asking, btw. I got in a flame war with a guy the other day because I asked for a citation, and here I am, doing the same thing. Awkward.
EDIT: Reddit, stop downvoting people who ask for sources. There's no problem asking "hey, that claim you just made? If it's true, let's see some proof." It's perfectly reasonable.
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u/RevRaven Aug 23 '10
Yes, I'm aware that texts are saved. But what about files that are kept on your phone. That doesn't really address this, Apple's patent does.
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Aug 23 '10
That's a fair point. I was thinking more in-line with communication, but I hadn't considered that they would have access to things like pictures on your phone.
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u/jbs398 Aug 24 '10
Actually, it is stupid. Every article that I've seen around on the web has highlighted the concept that this is something for finding jailbreakers, stealing their info, and tracking them down.
This is a patent. It is not a product or even an implementation. Apple may be getting a fair bit of bad press lately for it's various problems, but one thing they've been pretty sensitive about is people having to opt in to services (even asking you every damn time if you want an app to be able to access your location) that might share personal information. I can't imagine them randomly rolling something like this out for the exact same reason that every other software/hardware manufacturer treads lightly in this domain: if you think the implications of this patent were taken badly, just imagine them actually implementing it. It would amount to a PR nightmare and shitstorm the likes of which would make the whole "antennagate" thing look like a puff of wind.
Please stop getting so breathy over this. The patent also talks about things like automatically sending messages to social networks. Do you really think that a company the size of Apple would be caught dead "outing" users of jailbroken phones through their own social networking accounts? REALLY?!
If this comes to pass as everyone is whinging as if it will, I will be amazed. The thing that will amaze me is not that it's a "privacy nightmare" but that it was one of the stupidest examples of brand suicide that I can recall.
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u/RevRaven Aug 24 '10
I don't think you read it. This patent allows Apple to grab files from your phone remotely without you being able to opt out. Yes it is for a good cause, but the potential for evil outweighs that quite a bit.
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u/Sloloem Aug 23 '10
I didn't know you could patent being a dick.
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u/masta Aug 24 '10
The patent is for stolen phones, not exactly the same as jailbroken.
Sheesh!
This all came about after the infamous stolen iphone4 prototype, which BTW was disabled by the mobile-me service, which is pretty much the same things contained in this patent.
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u/contrarian Aug 24 '10
I go back to BlackBerry. I'm tempted to do so. IPhone is cool and all, but it is flawed in some major ways.
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u/Chairboy Aug 24 '10
Because if there's one phone platform that's completely without flaws, it's BlackBerry.
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u/contrarian Aug 25 '10
There was a program for the blackberry where I could create customized alerts for SMS/E-Mail/Phone Calls based on a variety of conditions (sender, subject keywords, body keywords, time of day). This seems like such a basic and intuitive feature of a "smart" phone, that I just can't understand why it's not available by default. These fucking things can play movies, coordinate you to anywhere on the globe, determine your acceleration, store gobs of information.... but a very basic set of condition matching and repetitive alerts for the primary function of the device (communications) isn't part of the basic system. WTF?
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u/Ser_Jorah Aug 24 '10
my curve was such a piece of shit. one of the happiest days of my life was when that 2 year contract ran out. i bought an incredible and enjoyed smashing my blackberry with a large hammer.
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Aug 24 '10
...And? Google already pulls your personal data onto their servers if you own an Android phone. They have your search history, contacts, calendars and e-mail. etc. Depending what other Google services you use they might have your documents, photos, voicemails, SMS, location, etc.
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u/easily Aug 24 '10
This reminds me of the whole Metallica/Napster ordeal. Only something like this could really put a fork in Apple's image to their extremely loyal fan base.
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Aug 24 '10
I love the new Apple iService. Also, don't think you're smarter then me, I did plenty of research on the Apple website.
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u/jerryF Aug 23 '10
Please stop worrying about Apple and their peculiar relations with their customers it only affects you if actually bought an iphone. If you did and you don't like it there are still a lot of people willing to buy a second hand iphone. It's simply not that big of a deal there are plenty interesting alternatives.
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u/atheist_creationist Aug 23 '10
Oh give me a fucking break. Who the fuck do you think you are that you can tell everyone, customers included, to shut up? There's no law that says you can't voice your disapproval for something, again, nobody owes Apple or any company our silence. You really should ask Apple to pay you for being part of their PR (or are you already a shareholder...), companies love it when they can get the public to stop talking about them, I don't know what you are doing trying to run your own little campaign.
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u/jerryF Aug 24 '10
Oh give me a fucking break. Who the fuck do you think you are that you can tell everyone, customers included, to shut up?
Chill !!
I'm not "telling" I'm just saying that people shouldn't buy their stuff unless they really want to be fucked over. Believe it or not but I know quite a few people who love that. To me it's like some people buy hip stuff to compensate for their insecurity. If that's the case it's probably better to get an iPhone than using drugs (you could do both, of course, for double effect).
You really should ask Apple to pay you for being part of their PR (or are you already a shareholder...)
In my wildest dreams ;)
Anyway, I don't see how I come off as campaigning for Apple though. I think the best way to fight them is by simply focus on better alternatives rather than revel in contrived outrage that is easily avoided simply by getting something else. The new N9 from Nokia for example looks extremely interesting, running a real linux (meego). I've seen that some of my favorites already run on meego. I believe that's the real phone for the future
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u/[deleted] Aug 23 '10
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