Apple's new patent request break jailbroke iPhones

Can spy on you, and more...

[tangor]

Apple has applied for a patent covering an elaborate series of measures to automatically protect iPhone owners from thieves and other unauthorized users. But please withhold the applause.

The patent, titled “Systems and Methods for Identifying Unauthorized Users of an Electronic Device,” would also protect Apple against jailbreaks and other unauthorized hacks to the device, which were recently excepted from copyright enforcement.

The application, which was filed in February and published Thursday, specifically describes the identification of “hacking, jailbreaking, unlocking, or removal of a SIM card” so that measures can be taken to counter the user. Possible responses include surreptitiously activating the iPhone's camera, geotagging the image and uploading it to a server and transmitting sensitive data to a server and then wiping it from the device.

[theregister.co.uk...]
Don't use one... heck, have no need for a mobile of any kind, but this is kinda scary! :)

[Philosopher]

Holy cr*p. I can think of all sorts of scenarios where that could go not just wrong, but waaaayyy wrong!

Even if it didn't go wrong, it's still just plain not good at all.

I have to admit, I have an iPhone and do like it, but this is the kind of direction that will have me moving to another platform pretty quickly.

[bhonda]

On one hand, this is brilliant. If this actually worked, then that's a really impressive achievement.

But, to quote Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park, "...your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."

Same applies to the atomic bomb. That is an amazing achievement. It shows hard work, and ingenuity. Is it a good creation? No.

Some things should remain in the lab. Of course, lessons learnt from it, and good applications for the real world drawn from it, but the original work should remain only in the theoretical.

In my opinion, this is one of those cases. Well done to Apple for creating it. Now, find proper uses for it.

_{I've just realised I've compared this to the atomic bomb. That wasn't my intention at all - just trying to describe the concept!}

[commanderW]

This causes me to recall a recent case in Pennsylvania, U.S.A. where a local school had dispensed many hundreds of laptops to the students. Apple laptops which they required them to use exclusively, I believe. It turned out that they had somehow turned on the cameras in a way that was not detectable by the students. Googling I found this update [tuaw.com ] and this page [huffingtonpost.com ] with all the juicy details.

So I have to wonder. If the day ever comes when I decide to rip the airport card out of my Macbook, will I hear a knock at the door?