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Always-on Processor magic: How Find My works while iPhone is powered off

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261–267 of 267 posts

Re: Always-on Processor magic: How Find My works while iPhone is powered off

#261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given the risk of xyz agency, there seem to be only a couple options to me: - side-load a peer reviewed apk so you can check the sigs and make sure all crypto is being done locally (and to make sure that the implementation is solid) - manage your own keys like you would with traditional pgp emails. Give your public to your friend. Force them to send anything sensitive using it. Maybe change to symmetric keys from asy…

> side-load a peer reviewed apk Signal has open sourced clients with reproducible builds (on Android) and their encryption library has been reviewed by multiple 3rd parties to great acclaim. PGP lacks forward secrecy, meaning if a key does get compromised all of your past correspondence is now also compromised.

This solution works then, right? So given this implementation (and not a play store or ios download), one should be safe from xzy snooping?

Edit: As someone that has heard of forward secrecy but not how it relates to pgp, these were helpful reads:

https://signal.org/blog/advanced-ratcheting/

https://signal.org/blog/asynchronous-security/

Re: Always-on Processor magic: How Find My works while iPhone is powered off

#262
post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Non removable battery and minimum percentage of phones sold with gps were promoted by governments (from old HN posts if I recall correctly). Actually there is no technical need for most phones not to have non removable batteries.

Isn't the argument that non removable batteries enable water resistance? Or am I missing something?

That's been an argument for non-removable batteries, getting rid of the 3.5mm jack.

I find that argument strange: I've never needed my phone while showering or swimming. Some rain has never broken any of my devices. But I've had pain from non-standard audio cables (Sony Ericsson from the early 2000s and their expensive proprietary cables) and non-removable batteries (Huawei batteries losing like half the capacity after a little more than a year).

Re: Always-on Processor magic: How Find My works while iPhone is powered off

#263
post #225
post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>1. What prevents people from using AirTags to track Android users? AirTags are BLE beacons, that Android phones will simply not pick up and not send their signal to the mothership. A background noise.

You're missing the point. If an Android user is travelling with an AirTag other people (e.g. a colleague) with iPhones will "send the signal to the motherships" but they won't get the alert as they most likely won't be in proximity of the AirTag long enough to trigger it.

Ah, right, thanks. Missed that

Re: Always-on Processor magic: How Find My works while iPhone is powered off

#264

The article is wrong about AOP being on while the phone is off. AOP is on while the phone is in standby . It powers down when you shut down the phone. Its job is to save battery by doing things like the Hey Siri and sensors processing without powering up the main cores at all. It does not stay on when the system is shut down. The part about the Bluetooth chipset staying on is correct. Think about it, why would they n…

Upvoting you, as you are totally right. The AOP is a standby feature, not while powered off. And why would it, the BluetoothLE chips available for years already have this wake-up functionality drawing very little power. I own a Bose BT Speaker and a FiiO BTR5 - both can be "off" (using their power-off buttons) but will still suddenly turn on when I explicitly connect to them through my laptop or phone. They are in th…

It's not even that; the AOP plays no role in this feature. The BT chipset can autonomously send the beacons. There is no mechanism for the AOP to wake up when the phone is off - it's dead and doesn't even have firmware loaded.

Re: Always-on Processor magic: How Find My works while iPhone is powered off

#265
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What is controversial about this? I'll predict that almost no one opted out of this for the simple reason that they didn't know this feature even existed. This is the "Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy" method of faking consent.

They show it clearly above the slider when shutting down. Since this is a feature virtually 100% of users want on. This seems appropriate.

Ah, I'm sorry. Then I had a misconception about how the UI worked. I thought it was on by default and the only hint it even existed was buried in settings.

I agree, this UI is a lot better.

Re: Always-on Processor magic: How Find My works while iPhone is powered off

#266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once its compromised there is no gradient anymore and you never know when things are compromised because three letter agencies will anyway not tell you.

So what do you use instead?

It's not about what to use, it's about having expectations of zero privacy when communicating online. Expect everything to be potentially public.

Re: Always-on Processor magic: How Find My works while iPhone is powered off

#267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The chances of you being directly spied on are low. The chances of someone being spied on who could influence the world around you is much higher. So a journalist could be spied on right before they break a big story, potentially leading to a cover up. That’s the problem with stuff like this. Even if you have “nothing to hide” you might rely on someone who legitimately does.

You could be spied on if governments are allowed to deploy dragnets that spy on everyone. Like how if your phone is on, your broad location is tracked whether you are a suspect or not.

I'm afraid that whether or not the governments are _allowed_ is a moot distinction, since they _do_.
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