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Apple cuts off Beeper Mini's access

techcrunch.com

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Re: Apple cuts off Beeper Mini's access

#351

Post by sdfhbdf »

orangecat wrote: post #303
dmillar wrote: post #65

As usual, Gruber was right on the money. Via Threads yesterday: "My prediction is that Apple will make changes—fixing bugs and/or closing loopholes—that break Beeper Mini. It’s untenable that there’s unsanctioned client software for a messaging platform for which privacy and security are a primary feature. It’s a very nice app, remarkably clever, and for now works like a charm, but if Apple wanted an iMessage client…

If an "unsanctioned" client can compromise iMessage security, then there was no actual security other than obscurity.

I didn't compromise the security of iMessage as a whole, it just exploited a way to get people into the system that was not planned.

Imagine there is a theme park that has normal ticket booths and some requirements there to get in. Then there comes a Beeper that finds a hole in the fence on the perimeter and sets up their ticket booths there. It's in theme park's best interest to close that hole and cut off the revenue stream of somebody pigging back on their theme park.

Re: Apple cuts off Beeper Mini's access

#352

Post by kmbfjr »

russelg wrote: post #336

Where is the hacker spirit here? The number of Apple apologists that have crawled out to say "see? I told you so!!" is saddening. It is a bit dicey when you're charging for it, but since Mini was entirely client-side it would be feasible for a free version to exist. Apple claims iMessage is E2EE, do we have proof they aren't siphoning the messages from the client once it's been decrypted? The level of trust we have t…

You are allowed, you get to use your iCloud account.

Re: Apple cuts off Beeper Mini's access

#353

Post by FirmwareBurner »

MBCook wrote: post #157
School-Cotton wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know a few people who use safari on Mac. Either because they just don’t care enough to install another browser, or because they prefer the more “native Mac” look and feel.

> Either because they just don’t care enough to install another browser… Why does so many people have this attitude that Safari sucks and the only people who use it are idiots who don’t know better? It’s so incredibly insulting. Not that putting native Mac in quotes implies anything nice either.

Why do you care about other peoples' opinion on a fricking browser? Did you write it to feel insulted?

I'm trying to understand the reason for the white knight HN commenters NPC reactions coming with their "stop insulting my favorite trillion dollar corporation".

Re: Apple cuts off Beeper Mini's access

#354

Post by threeseed »

ma2rten wrote: post #83
ElijahLynn wrote: post #45

> Reached for comment, Beeper CEO Eric Migicovsky did not deny that Apple has successfully blocked Beeper Mini. “If it’s Apple, then I think the biggest question is... if Apple truly cares about the privacy and security of their own iPhone users, why would they stop a service that enables their own users to now send encrypted messages to Android users, rather than using unsecure SMS? With their announcement of RCS su…

Apples cares about the privacy and security of iPhones as a differentiator.

Apple employees also care deeply about the privacy and security of iPhones.

Re: Apple cuts off Beeper Mini's access

#356

Post by explaininjs »

llm_nerd wrote: post #290

This was the obvious outcome. People were being willfully blind about how this "hack" works. Using an exfiltrated binary they used its blackbox functions to perform a sort of device attestation using ripped Apple device identifiers. Clearly Apple simply needs to blacklist any device attestation that this service uses, which is obviously trivial. These aren't just RNGs they're fabricating, they're sets of legitimate A…

This should have been obvious to anyone who saw the code where it simply contained the raw literal string `FAIRPLAY_PRIVATE_KEY = b64decode(“…”)`. I suppose now we’ll see how accurate the commenter’s claim “if this becomes a problem, I know how to generate new keys” is.

https://github.com/JJTech0130/pypush/blob/main/albert.py#L16

Re: Apple cuts off Beeper Mini's access

#357

Post by ysofunny »

willseth wrote: post #209
maxlin wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since apple has no control over your fire extinguisher, they sent a man to securely take it from your house and dispose of it. It could have been a bomb for all you know.

What? Does a fire extinguisher connect to Apple servers? Does a fire extinguisher secretly being a bomb affect the security of others? I don’t know if you could have come up with a worse metaphor.

It's a new more advanced fire extinguisher that is 'smart' and has a touchscreen and it smells really nice* and what's even better,

it's going to become illegal not to have one in california! so you better invest NOW!!!

go to double U double U double U blah blah blah dot yadda yadda yadda

*full disclaimer, this technology is patent pending**

**doubly full disclaimer, "patent pending" in the sense that the invention is still to be invented, the panel of experts said 20 (more) years!

Re: Apple cuts off Beeper Mini's access

#358

Post by anomaly_ »

ysofunny wrote: post #319
CharlesW wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Keep in mind that this is spin — Erik's statement is ridiculous, and he knows it. To think that Apple would somehow not treat Beeper like any other bad actor hacking iMessage protocols is delulu.

but the real problem some of use have with Apple's behavior is the real underlying reasons they're doing this I am reasonably sure that their main driver is profit which really means exploitation of people; I consider their public arguments lies made up to cover up the fact that what they account for as profit comes from what are in the end some really ugly historical and traditional imperialistic (colonial, neocolon…

so buy/use something else?

Re: Apple cuts off Beeper Mini's access

#359

Post by thomastjeffery »

sbuk wrote: post #312
gigatexal wrote: post #260

Absolutely hilarious. Did people actually think this was going to be allowed? iMessage is a huge moat and only an act of Congress or a case verdict will force their hand. Maybe the EU legislation might.

> Maybe the EU legislation might. Why? iMessage simply does not have the market share enjoyed by WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger or Telegram EU-wide. iMessage was temporarily removed from the DMA in September and noises coming out of the commission favour Apple's stance that it is simply not big enough to warrant inclusion as a gatekeeper for messaging apps.

Those lucky bastards...

If the EU won't solve America's problems for us, who will?

Re: Apple cuts off Beeper Mini's access

#360

Post by seanmcdirmid »

caseyohara wrote: post #98
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many people are still using safari on Mac? Everyone I know uses chrome, but maybe that’s just in the states?

I use Safari as my daily driver on Mac because it syncs nicely with my iPhone and iPad (I don't see any point using a browser besides Safari on iOS/ipadOS), and is better on battery life. I also regularly use Chrome on Mac for things like front-end development.

I’m the opposite. The only reason I ever use chrome on my iPad to s because I need to use my password manager (since I use chrome for everything on my desktops). Even my non techie wife uses chrome on her MBP (and I didn’t set it up for her).
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