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In which Apple destroys my daughter’s iPad forever

ericasadun.com

101–110 of 152 posts

Re: In which Apple destroys my daughter’s iPad forever

#101
post #20

This is one of the reasons why you should just not buy Apple-branded stuff: such things are designed to be remotely-lockable. With an Android-based device this couldn't happen. Provided that you have a backup of your data, you could just reflash the device, restore your backup and start using the device again. Just don't buy Apple stuff. Between people having assistance denied (example: Linus Sebastian 5 k$ Mac Pro),…

Yup. Stallman's annoyingly accurate prescience strikes again. https://www.gnu.org/proprietary/malware-apple.html

And this is why I donate to the FSF.

Yeah, Stallman's out there. But he's not wrong. It only takes a bit more time to show the abuses that he warns about.

I sit in a weird place where I admin and advocate for Windows and Linux. Feels wrong, but I introduced Linux into a bunch of windows admins. I felt that going the full kerb/ldap/radius/linOTP/shib stack would be too much to chew immediately. Steps :)

Re: In which Apple destroys my daughter’s iPad forever

#102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can't the device be reset another way? Im sure most phone theft is to sell hardware, not get data.

Nope, at least not on the devices equipped with the secure enclave. The device can still be sold for parts, but so far I don't think there is a technical solution to unlocking the system or even wiping it.

Hmm, sounds like a fun DOS attack for frienemies. Personally, I'd rather take the risk. Is there a way to disable that?

Re: In which Apple destroys my daughter’s iPad forever

#103
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if they know the username and password though? A thief shouldn't know your username and password, and if I have the username and password to a device, I expect to be able to get in.

I believe the OP uses the word "password" incorrectly; they're talking about the device passcode . The details provided in the post indicate they do not know the Apple ID's password, and are unable to perform account recovery (ie: password reset) which requires answers to security questions and/or access to the email address's inbox. Edit: Another comment chain noted that the OP says the Apple ID was locked as well.…

Ah, in that case I read it wrong, thank you. That's never spelled out in the article, especially with lines like:

> My daughter knows her account name. She knows her password. She did not forget either one.

Re: In which Apple destroys my daughter’s iPad forever

#104
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Apple is doing the right thing. The error lays in the user, a) don't rememebr my security questions .... eh well... B) Apple provides ways to restore everything, two factor, email recovery etc etc, if you didn't take care of your own security for 7 years, what are you crying about? Sometimes I don't get users.

Don't blame the user for poor product decisions.

Yeah... because your email provider shuts down, and you keep using it for your apple account id, that is totally the fault of Apple.

Re: In which Apple destroys my daughter’s iPad forever

#105
post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe the OP uses the word "password" incorrectly; they're talking about the device passcode . The details provided in the post indicate they do not know the Apple ID's password, and are unable to perform account recovery (ie: password reset) which requires answers to security questions and/or access to the email address's inbox. Edit: Another comment chain noted that the OP says the Apple ID was locked as well.…

Ah, in that case I read it wrong, thank you. That's never spelled out in the article, especially with lines like: > My daughter knows her account name. She knows her password. She did not forget either one.

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Re: In which Apple destroys my daughter’s iPad forever

#106
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Physical possesion of a device should never equal direct access to all its data. Apple appear to have extended this principle beyond the data and are preventing use of the device entirely. It ought to be possible to wipe the device and start from scratch with a new Apple account.

If a stolen device can be trivially reset there is no deterrent to stealing them or to buying stolen property.

This case (OP's) is an example of when a device reset could be required despite not having been stolen. What we're left with is the balancing act of deciding whether this example is an acceptable price to pay to achieve the deterrent effect you're describing.

And I'd also be interested to know if it really does have a deterrent effect. Does anyone know if criminals really do avoid stealing iPads?

Re: In which Apple destroys my daughter’s iPad forever

#107
post #77
post #22

Oh, this is a painful topic. A couple of years ago my son forgot the (3-digit!) PIN for his iPod touch. He tried various possibilities, with the device responding with increasingly long lockouts between attempts, until it locked him out permanently. I'm not an iOS user and I had no idea it would do that. I am still angry that it did. It wasn't associated with a Mac, so we couldn't unlock it that way. He eventually sh…

Then you don’t understand why this feature exists. The 3 digit pin will get hacked given enough time. The erase was to garantuee that your data is safe .

Then you don't understand that when the user is unaware of such feature and can't easily opt in/out, then it's an anti-feature, because sometimes not getting locked out from your own device is way more important than data being safe.

Re: In which Apple destroys my daughter’s iPad forever

#108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope, at least not on the devices equipped with the secure enclave. The device can still be sold for parts, but so far I don't think there is a technical solution to unlocking the system or even wiping it.

Hmm, sounds like a fun DOS attack for frienemies. Personally, I'd rather take the risk. Is there a way to disable that?

Only by not setting a passcode.

Re: In which Apple destroys my daughter’s iPad forever

#109
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then you don’t understand why this feature exists. The 3 digit pin will get hacked given enough time. The erase was to garantuee that your data is safe .

Then you don't understand that when the user is unaware of such feature and can't easily opt in/out, then it's an anti-feature, because sometimes not getting locked out from your own device is way more important than data being safe.

I disagree. If the user doesn’t understand the technicalities, then, I argue that Apple should take control.

The user might think that access is more important until the case where you have sensitive data (like intimate photos) at the wrong hands.

Apple picks to destory the data of all users. It annoys the majority but protect the minority which has sensitive information.

Also users underestimate the sensititivty of their data until the hammer hits.

Re: In which Apple destroys my daughter’s iPad forever

#110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope, at least not on the devices equipped with the secure enclave. The device can still be sold for parts, but so far I don't think there is a technical solution to unlocking the system or even wiping it.

Hmm, sounds like a fun DOS attack for frienemies. Personally, I'd rather take the risk. Is there a way to disable that?

If everything were backed up to iCloud (it is by default), you can literally throw your device in the trash, get a new one, log in and the new device will look and act like the old device with all of your data in check.

The issue was that she had maxed out her icloud account and kept dismissing messages. The blame for that is shared between her parent not ponying up $10 a month for 2TB of storage that can be shared by the whole family and Apple's stingy free tier that only gives you 5Gb a month per account no matter how many devices you have.

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