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We are retroactively dropping the iPhone’s repairability score

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Re: We are retroactively dropping the iPhone’s repairability score

#351

Post by TheHappyOddish »

PrimeMcFly wrote: post #314
TheHappyOddish wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm unsure how your device being Android means you won't hand over the keys when prompted at gunpoint. Can you explain your line of thought?

It's much easier on Android to setup all kinds of alternatives. You could setup a 'dummy' key that if entered would alert the police, for example. Failing that, you can setup different keys for different services with different levels of access, as well as have third party equivalents to 'Find my iPhone'. Not being in the walled garden provides a lot of freedom and flexibility to setup contingencies.

Maybe... But ignoring the fact this lgel of customisation is unlikely for any normal and most tech people, you'd likely require root to override the core system and password auth I'd imagine. I believe this ends up invalidating what is core functionality for most people - banking, wildvine, etc.

If we're moving into the realm of the ultra paranoid, high security over convenience focused user - sure. In fact I dare say such a user might prefer a Linux phone with physical keyboard, or no phone at all. But if we're talking average iPhone or Android users here, I can't imagine the scenario would change much at gunpoint.

Re: We are retroactively dropping the iPhone’s repairability score

#352

Post by gchamonlive »

Pet_Ant wrote: post #117
gchamonlive wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can try to push that as a marketing strategy, but I would say the share of the market that looks for smartphones specifically because they are less of a target for theft is minuscule, the reason being because nobody shop for phones thinking about getting robbed. They shop mainly guided by ecosystem (android Vs ios) brand perception (how good their aftersales support is), budget and cost-effectiveness. In this sen…

You can do a search and you'll find many articles and comments about how back in the day people were warned not to wear the white iPod ear buds as not to be a target for thefts. > West Midlands police have issued a stark warning to iPod users: ditch the white headphones or pay the price. https://www.theregister.com/2004/03/30/ipod_this_seasons_mus... Apple could be very well front-running this and trying to prevent i…

Earpods and phone parts in this context are fundamentally different because earpods are a peripheral whereas cameras, batteries and such are components for an embedded system. I can't see how they apply to the discussion.

Re: We are retroactively dropping the iPhone’s repairability score

#353

Post by JohnFen »

mschuster91 wrote: post #6

There is also another issue why Apple is restricting "part harvesting": theft. iCloud locks or Samsung's KNOX lock entered the field because the manufacturers were pretty pissed that customers using their devices in public became a target for "enterprising" robbers who'd factory-wipe the devices and flip them to a pawn shop or second-hand store in a matter of half an hour. When people are afraid to use your products…

Even if that's their motivation, doing that is still a terrible practice at least in the way they're doing it. It's certainly one of the big reasons why I won't buy these devices.

Re: We are retroactively dropping the iPhone’s repairability score

#354

Post by PrimeMcFly »

TheHappyOddish wrote: post #351
PrimeMcFly wrote: post #314

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's much easier on Android to setup all kinds of alternatives. You could setup a 'dummy' key that if entered would alert the police, for example. Failing that, you can setup different keys for different services with different levels of access, as well as have third party equivalents to 'Find my iPhone'. Not being in the walled garden provides a lot of freedom and flexibility to setup contingencies.

Maybe... But ignoring the fact this lgel of customisation is unlikely for any normal and most tech people, you'd likely require root to override the core system and password auth I'd imagine. I believe this ends up invalidating what is core functionality for most people - banking, wildvine, etc. If we're moving into the realm of the ultra paranoid, high security over convenience focused user - sure. In fact I dare sa…

> But ignoring the fact this lgel of customisation is unlikely for any normal and most tech people,

This is HN though...surely there are a lot of people who care about security and have experience using custom roms.

> you'd likely require root to override the core system and password auth I'd imagine

Honestly, even a simple solution would be putting on something like Prey, which is free and easy to use, and using a third party applocker tool. Those two things don't need a custom rom or any other customization.

Re: We are retroactively dropping the iPhone’s repairability score

#355

Post by LorenPechtel »

withinboredom wrote: post #263
LorenPechtel wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple should have a duress system. You have say 48 hours to contact Apple and tell them the change was made under duress--and you do so with the *old* credentials, not the new ones. All changes to your account revert and the phone locks itself to your account once it sees the network.

People would instantly use this for insurance fraud.

Legitimate buyer would file a police report for fraud.

Re: We are retroactively dropping the iPhone’s repairability score

#356

Post by TheKarateKid »

junofan wrote: post #233
awesomeMilou wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rationale of putting engineering time into developing sophisticated anti-repair schemes instead of selling spare parts directly under some threat of a part black market is completely bonkers to me. Sorry, I'm not buying it, this is Apple protecting their exclusive repair turf and nothing else.

The execs are actually focused on a giant, sophisticated fraud ring in China doing several bn $. The repairs lose money.

Interesting. Where can I read more about this?

Re: We are retroactively dropping the iPhone’s repairability score

#357

Post by dang »

paulmd wrote: post #348
skeaker wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I appreciate the way you put this, dang. You're right that I was misinterpreted: I am advocating for a way to unlock the (perfectly good and fully functional) parts that doesn't involve throwing them away and buying new ones. I'm upset that Apple has gone the route of remote bricking with no recourse but to throw them away, not complaining that Apple is making theft harder. Painting me as a "violent criminal" for tha…

If you wanted to talk about erroneous lockout signals, you could have mentioned literally anything about that topic in your post. This is your entire comment, italicised portion is the one I quoted, which should have made it pretty clear what part I was responding to. > If the solution to theft is "remotely brick parts that work perfectly," it is a shitty solution that doesn't deserve consideration. Doubly so when Ap…

I'm certain that you have a very good reason for feeling strongly about this, and that your concerns are genuine - but the way you're expressing it in the thread is not helping. Please stop.

Re: We are retroactively dropping the iPhone’s repairability score

#358

Post by sattoshi »

ghostpepper wrote: post #195
i_love_cookies wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it's actually made phone theft even worse as a victim. instead of running with the device muggers are demanding pin's and passcodes at gun/knife point it's resulted in a few deaths in chicago at least

Got a source on this? Quick google search for "Chicago death iPhone mugging" did not turn up anything about robbers specifically asking for PIN codes, or killing someone for not providing it.

> killing someone for not providing it

They wouldn’t live to tell the tale

Re: We are retroactively dropping the iPhone’s repairability score

#359

Post by acters »

picture wrote: post #35
misnome wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If it were, they would also allow you to say “yes this replacement is desired.” How does that not completely bypass any of the reasons for wanting to do this? And it is “anti-consumerist” to make my property a less desirable target for theft?

> How does that not completely bypass any of the reasons for wanting to do this? Do it from your iCloud account. Presumably thieves will not hold you at gun point to log in to iCloud and allow pairing of your phone's components to a ready recipient iPhone

I dont buy the anti theft angle either. People's phones still end up stolen, and they are still contacted by the thieves to remove the icloud account. ICloud is a good enough feature to prevent theft, and having authorized repair options in it is great. So, that notion is already pretty bad. If someone replaces the motherboard with a blank iPhone(no iCloud attached), then a check of parts that are serialized to an iCloud account should be implemented to prevent harvesting parts from a locked iPhone. There are better consumer friendly methods that Apple simply ignores.

Re: We are retroactively dropping the iPhone’s repairability score

#360

Post by Pet_Ant »

gchamonlive wrote: post #352
Pet_Ant wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can do a search and you'll find many articles and comments about how back in the day people were warned not to wear the white iPod ear buds as not to be a target for thefts. > West Midlands police have issued a stark warning to iPod users: ditch the white headphones or pay the price. https://www.theregister.com/2004/03/30/ipod_this_seasons_mus... Apple could be very well front-running this and trying to prevent i…

Earpods and phone parts in this context are fundamentally different because earpods are a peripheral whereas cameras, batteries and such are components for an embedded system. I can't see how they apply to the discussion.

...people weren't stealing ear pods the were stealing iPods. The theft of Apple products is a legitimate saftey concern. By preventing a market for stolen iPhones (ie to be cannibalised for parts) they are increasing the safety of their users.
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