Welcome to the Cloud - "Your Apple ID has been disabled."

I got that same email yesterday when I purchased Lion for a computer on which I'd replaced the logic board. The "change your password" suggestion and lack of a fraud reporting mechanism was strange, but I didn't have cause to tell anyone.

Also, the "do_not_reply@apple.com" seems like a strange address for an email like this. It should be "fraud@apple.com" (note: probably doesn't exist) or at least provide a link to the list of phone numbers at http://support.apple.com/kb/HE57 or the online support system at https://expresslane.apple.com/.

Unfortunately, the conclusion of this rather long thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2178698?start=0&tst... seems to be that Apple isn't legally liable for this, and that you need to take it up with your bank.

I can see how a data lockdown would be offputting, but I read this as a story about how some algo at Apple stopped a thief from stealing as much as he could have otherwise.

One of the main gripes seems to be that Apple "let this happen" -- but enabling app commerce is what they do. Someone gets ahold of your credit line, they go buy stuff. Best Buy doesn't "let it happen", neither does Visa. After the fact they are just mandated to limit the damage to which you're responsible.

I'm not sure I could tolerate it any other way. Personally, I would not enjoy a system where some human calls me up every time I make an app purchase. I feel Apple's sin of omission is forgivable here and see it as laudable that some software algo that stopped it after $40 bucks or so. I'll be interested to read, however, whether or not Apple holds this gentleman accountable for those purchases and whether or not they fallback onto the credit card provider for damage limits.

It's result #2 in a Google search for "Gruber".

I don't know why he is blaming apple for the security measure. It could be apple's fault that he was hacked, it could be otherwise. Still apple only knew there was a new device using his account, legit or not it didn't know for sure. I have at least 9 iDevices hooked up to my account as of late, on average 3 more each year. And I don't think apple can do much more to validate each and every one of them without being intrusive and annoying.

Good to know. Thanks!