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…
Apple wouldn't even exist if not for this type of hacking. One of Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak's first projects was selling blue boxes[1] to play around on AT&T's telephone system.
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…
The troll toll? > Just putting the thought out there. https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Just_asking_questions
ratwiki is /literally/ a troll website. it has the same validity as encyclopedia dramatica.
> The CFAA prohibits intentionally accessing a computer without authorization or in excess of authorization, but fails to define what “without authorization” means. - From the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Other way around. If anything, it sounds to me like Beeper Mini was acting illegally by accessing Apple’s servers in a way they didn’t give permission for. The CFAA is ripe for abuse. I’m not say…
I think that’s certainly an argument that Apple would make. However, it seems that this app was simply sending requests and receiving responses that there was no code injection or compromise of Apple servers, or of credentials, or anything of that sort.
Yes, they didn't violate the law as you think it ought to be written.
They may very well have violated the law as it is actually written.
I would love to see hackers continue making it viable to use iMessage on Android until Apple concedes and launches their own client. Sometimes you have to ruffle some feathers to enact change.
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…
> Where is the hacker spirit here?
The site is called "Hacker News" but it's predominantly existed over the years as a funnel for the business-centric Valley industry.
Which is to say that I think you're trying to apply one specific definition of "hacker" when it doesn't really work that way.
> The CFAA prohibits intentionally accessing a computer without authorization or in excess of authorization, but fails to define what “without authorization” means. - From the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Other way around. If anything, it sounds to me like Beeper Mini was acting illegally by accessing Apple’s servers in a way they didn’t give permission for. The CFAA is ripe for abuse. I’m not say…
I think that’s certainly an argument that Apple would make. However, it seems that this app was simply sending requests and receiving responses that there was no code injection or compromise of Apple servers, or of credentials, or anything of that sort.
Not particularly relevant due to lawsuits involving game cheating, where the circumstances are very similar.
Beeper is lucky they weren't sued under the DMCA anti-circumvention clause, as they clearly were bypassing the technological measures Apple uses to prevent genuine devices from connecting to iMessage & Apple services.
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…
I remember another post that was very well-received where an individual hacker wrote his own homebrew iMessage client for his own personal purposes. HN really liked that! I think HN exists at an intersection of individual hackerism and business. If a project is clearly by-hackers-for-hackers it gets a lot more leeway for unsustainable concepts / implementations. But this is building a business on adversarial interope…
youtube-dl, NewPipe, and uBlock Origin exist solely for the purpose of empowering the individual, yet they are constantly attacked on HN as being tools used unfairly to harm Google's profitability. Open-source projects like Matrix, PeerTube, Mastodon, are built to be free and open-source for the benefit of end-users and lack of vendor lockin. Yet each is derided on HackerNews for not being enough like their corporate counterparts. Yes, there are those here who don't do that, but as cynical as it sounds, I do think this site's audience is mostly folk who like the status quos set by FAANG-types and don't really care about hackerism outside of toy websites.
In my experience, incoming SMS are mostly spam, and other low trust notifications, while incoming iMessages, even if unknown to me, are likely to be real people. Buying an Apple device is an expensive signal, and Apple will quickly shut down abusers, maintaining that relatively high bar. Letting (actual) Android users use iMessage probably wouldn’t affect that, but the open source hack/reversing of it opened the door…
Huh, I used to receive spam on iMessage with blue bubbles. In fact the only blue bubbles I receive are spam.
Are these iMessage group chat really a thing? In my part of the world Whatsapp is the defacto standard for group chat and even for things like scheduling anpointment to a doctor/dentist/hairdresser. And that is because it is available on android, apple devices and even those cheap kaios halfsmartphones.
> Are these iMessage group chat really a thing? For some, but everyone knows and has the capacity to download WhatsApp. The root issue is there is a lot of judgment about Android users, hence wanting to restrict chats to iMessage. It’s a signal that you are part of the in group vs out group. Although, it is objectively convenient to have a group of all iMessage users at events, because any pics/video get shared at hi…
Walled garden development practices sold under the guise of privacy and security. It's a very tired and old playbook that has real societal damage. So. Tired. Of. It.