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Apple partly halts Beeper's iMessage app again, suggesting a long fight ahead

arstechnica.com

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Re: Apple partly halts Beeper's iMessage app again, suggesting a long fight ahead

#211

Post by dylan604 »

MuffinFlavored wrote: post #199
I_Am_Nous wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like a chess move. Apple blocks a small percentage of users instead of all of them, which casts uncertainty on using Beeper Mini at all. It also allows them to A/B test various methods of blocking or honeypotting Beeper Mini logins without giving away any big secrets. From Beeper's perspective, they now have to figure out why only those logins were blocked and if they need to patch something or not. Apple could…

My bigger question is how are any Beeper Mini users getting through (aka how is Beeper Mini's backend getting around the fact that... I thought you needed a valid serial # to an Apple device specific to you to log in + use iMessage)

at some point Serial Box will have a list of valid/invalid hardware serial numbers. or, someone will crack the code to generate valid codes.

oh wait. i drifted off back to the 90s software cracking days.

Re: Apple partly halts Beeper's iMessage app again, suggesting a long fight ahead

#212

Post by [deleted] »

sroussey wrote: post #181
paulryanrogers wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A brief period (~2008-2015) when XMPP had momentum and federation was trendy, if incomplete. Apps like Trillian, Pidgin (Gaim), Adium actually allowed chatting across many platforms on the client side. To some extent they still can, with add-ons.

So did iMessage back then.

[deleted]

Re: Apple partly halts Beeper's iMessage app again, suggesting a long fight ahead

#213

Post by theturtletalks »

solardev wrote: post #187
theturtletalks wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s stopping an open source beeper alternative where users host their own notification server? The rest is client-side anyways.

Network effect? The whole value of it is that it lets you use existing networks (iMessage and SMS). Otherwise people could just switch to WhatsApp or any of twenty Google messaging services.

No I mean a beeper alternative that uses the iMessage backend. The tricky part with beeper is that they have their own notification server that gets the notifications from Apple and turns them into what android understands. That should be self-hosted by each person because it would contain the FairPlay key.

Re: Apple partly halts Beeper's iMessage app again, suggesting a long fight ahead

#215

Post by dylan604 »

meepmorp wrote: post #111
dishsoap wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are they stealing?

Theft of services, since Apple owns and maintains the iMessage system that Beeper is trying to use without compensating them (despite charging their own users for that access).

This is where Beeper 100% loses me in this fight. If you're using a 3rd party service as the backbone of your system that you turn around and charge people for, that's just total bullshit business plan. If you're doing this as a free service, I'd be much more interested. If you have a for-profit business, you need to be paying for the 3rd party thing that makes you possible.

Re: Apple partly halts Beeper's iMessage app again, suggesting a long fight ahead

#216

Post by skeaker »

dann0 wrote: post #71

[flagged]

To unspin your statement, Beeper is providing Apple users with more functionality by way of giving them the ability to send iMessages to their Android-user friends. This is beneficial for Apple users, but Apple has a financial incentive to restrict their users so that the only way for other people to interact with them is to purchase an Apple device, so they are harming their own Apple device users by trying to cut off this functionality.

Re: Apple partly halts Beeper's iMessage app again, suggesting a long fight ahead

#217

Post by [deleted] »

I_Am_Nous wrote: post #67
NettleBurr wrote: post #28

>Apple on Wednesday appeared to have blocked what Beeper described as "~5% of Beeper Mini users" from accessing iMessages >Apple previously issued a (somewhat uncommon) statement about Beeper's iMessage access, stating that it "took steps to protect our users by blocking techniques that exploit fake credentials in order to gain access to iMessage." Citing privacy, security, and spam concerns, Apple stated it would "c…

Seems like a chess move. Apple blocks a small percentage of users instead of all of them, which casts uncertainty on using Beeper Mini at all. It also allows them to A/B test various methods of blocking or honeypotting Beeper Mini logins without giving away any big secrets. From Beeper's perspective, they now have to figure out why only those logins were blocked and if they need to patch something or not. Apple could…

[deleted]

Re: Apple partly halts Beeper's iMessage app again, suggesting a long fight ahead

#218

Post by the_gastropod »

FirmwareBurner wrote: post #87
dann0 wrote: post #71

[flagged]

>t’s really interesting that so many people are defending a corporation stealing from another company Boo-hoo, let me play you the world's smallest violin for Apple's "suffering". Apple is the richest company in the world, it has more money than God, they can fend for themselves just fine, why should anyone shed a tear that someone is stealing from them? People are defending others stealing from Apple because Apple h…

> Though you'll have to enlighten me what exactly it is they are stealing from Apple since Apple doesn't charge money for iMessage for there to be any theft or loss of revenue for them. Unless your definition of theft is "YOU WOULDN'T DOWNLOAD A CAR?!"

Apple doesn't charge money for iMessage in much the same way Microsoft doesn't charge money for MS Paint. iMessage is included as part of an Apple hardware purchase. Running a messaging system that likely handles billions of messages—with photo and video attachments—every day is not free. Apple's device sales subsidize the cost Apple pays to run this system.

Beeper using this system by exploiting a technical loophole is theft in a much more direct way than pirating a copy of an audio track is, I think.

Re: Apple partly halts Beeper's iMessage app again, suggesting a long fight ahead

#219

Post by unsignedint »

unshavedyak wrote: post #21
nocoiner wrote: post #4

Beeper CEO, from the article: "If there's enough pressure on Apple, they will have to quit messing with us." "Us," he clarified, meant both Apple's customers using iMessage and Android users trying to chat securely with iPhone friends. "That's who they're penalizing," he wrote. "It's not a Beeper vs. Apple fight, it's Apple versus customers." Not really sure how this is anti-customer. Apple customers have ample acces…

> Apple customers have ample access to iMessage, after all. And as has been noted many, many times, there are many means of accessing secure cross-platform messaging. In fairness, i am a 5+ device apple customer and i can't use it on my two primary desktops. I use Beeper to write texts on my primary computer. Apple feels anti-me. I pay for products and unless i'm 100% into the ecosystem they fight me. Sure, they don'…

I discontinued using Apple products primarily due to their ecosystem-centric design philosophy. Many features appear tailored exclusively for users fully committed to Apple's ecosystem. While it's common for platforms to have exclusive features, Apple's approach feels more pronounced. In contrast, Google, for instance, offers Android-specific features, yet their services function well across various platforms, including mobile and desktop, and this compatibility extends to Apple devices as well.

Re: Apple partly halts Beeper's iMessage app again, suggesting a long fight ahead

#220

Post by richwater »

ToucanLoucan wrote: post #72
bastard_op wrote: post #59

Because of course they did, they like that children make fun of their peers that have a green message vs. a blue, and that's exactly what they want. They're like "ew, are you poor and can't afford a $1200 iphone?" It is now a petty, but prevalent status symbol of being better than others, namely perceived "poor" or otherwise lesser android users.

Android users have been banging this drum about the iPhone supremacists for an actual decade at this point and it so, so goddamn tiring. I buy iPhones for a number of reasons: - Ecosystem which has been explained at length so often you'd have to have your head under a rock to not know what it means - Ease of transfer of data between phones/tablets and replacements, along with constant sync - Excellent build quality -…

Beautifully put.
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