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Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

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Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#571

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are still going with that "it's just a powerpoint, it means nothing" line? I thought we dispensed with that notion months ago.

Yes. There is zero evidence of any type of NSA backdooring your iPhone nonsense. It would be great to read HN (where I thought we were more technically inclined than the rest of the net) for a day without unfounded nonsensical claims.

Wrong.

> In one case, after the government learned that a foreign intelligence target had ordered new computer hardware, the American manufacturer agreed to insert a back door into the product before it was shipped, someone familiar with the request told The Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/06/us/nsa-foils-much-internet...

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#572

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have a 26 character passphrase, then how are you having an easy time trusting the fingerprint auth?

It is my fingerprint. Why shouldn't I trust it?

It's not about your fingerprint though. It's just that cheap scanners are easy to trick and you leave fingerprints everywhere, including on the very surface you scan it on.

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#573
post #487

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, my 4S has a persistent mobile data connection, so storing music locally is of no great benefit to me. I guess all we can conclude is that 16GB can be huge, or tiny, depending on how you want to use your device.

Ever done a road trip? Amazing how many places out there on major interstates have like no data coverage. On-device storage is important for cases like these.

I was in the US a few months ago and did experience what you are talking about on the interstates, so I get where you are coming from. It was actually kind of a strange experience to be out of service so often.

But here in Canada, where I spent almost all my time, the only place I've ever had any significant coverage issues is when I was in the far north, and I've only been there once. It's essentially a non-issue for me.

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#574

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a vast oversimplification of the facts.

So is the parent comment. A few PowerPoint slides doesn't warrant any ridiculous comments about the NSA backdooring your phone. It would be great if HN could stop with the NSA is everywhere-all-the-time-in-everything meme for a while, it would make reading the comments here much more relevant.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6364315

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#575
post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the first smartphone with 64bit CPU, it's a significant achievement, and they are rightly proud of it. I thought comparisons to the original iPhone were very silly though.

Yes, the iPhone 5S definitely needs to address more than 4GB of RAM directly, or do 64-bit integer math for Angry Birds to render accurately. (This is a joke: I know 64-bit ARM is substantially improved, but it's really not a big selling point to the general population anymore, is it?!)

Non techies that I know hear 64 bit and immediately think that it's better. When friends show me a new lap top or whatever else, they say it's 64 bit. When they're shopping they ask if something is 64 bit. They don't understand why it's important, but they think it is.

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#576
post #73

Now that we have to consider the iPhones to be backdoored by the NSA, I wonder whether I really want to give them my fingerprint together with the rest of my data. I'm also not so sure whether a fingerprint can't still be easily faked (like it was possible on that Mythbusters episode for example). Personally, I think I'd rather stay with my passcode. Did you btw know that you can turn off "simple passcode" and then u…

I am not concerned about my fingerprint data being part of some larger database. However, if you're using a fingerprint to unlock, it's much harder to say "I've forgotten my password" - or stop them from using your finger while you're unconscious. Deniability becomes much lower.

More realistically, fingerprints aren't considered "testimony" for the purposes of fifth amendment protection against self-incriminating testimony.

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#577

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. There is zero evidence of any type of NSA backdooring your iPhone nonsense. It would be great to read HN (where I thought we were more technically inclined than the rest of the net) for a day without unfounded nonsensical claims.

Wrong. > In one case, after the government learned that a foreign intelligence target had ordered new computer hardware, the American manufacturer agreed to insert a back door into the product before it was shipped, someone familiar with the request told The Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/06/us/nsa-foils-much-internet...

"Someone" testified that an American manufacturer planted a back door into "a" product "somewhere".

Compelling.

So from that you extrapolate all devices made by US companies are secretly under the control of the NSA? Pretty big logical leap there.

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#578

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look HN is not a US-only site. For those of us in the other 200 odd countries it really is boring as hell to have to wade through your pointless, unsubstantiated paranoia.

We non-US citizens have even MORE to worry about, because there are no laws to protect us and our privacy. We are open season.

If you are in Europe then you may have better enforced laws protecting you. If you are in Africa your government might not have the expertise and resources to spy on you. If you are in China, well...

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#579

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wrong. > In one case, after the government learned that a foreign intelligence target had ordered new computer hardware, the American manufacturer agreed to insert a back door into the product before it was shipped, someone familiar with the request told The Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/06/us/nsa-foils-much-internet...

"Someone" testified that an American manufacturer planted a back door into "a" product "somewhere". Compelling. So from that you extrapolate all devices made by US companies are secretly under the control of the NSA? Pretty big logical leap there.

I know that you already dismiss the global surveillance from the NSA and other agencies because of your earlier comment "of a few powerpoint slides."

That leads me to believe that you're either part of an organization that's subverting the internet and assisting the NSA or you're willfully ignorant.

Fact is, your other comments point that you have not well-researched the situation.

Every week there's a new revelation of just how deep the surveillance really is-- not just "metadata" but ALL data is being collected. The NSA hacks into companies, pays off others for cooperation. Backdoors. Broken encryption. It's all there out in the open thanks to the documents that have been leaked.

You do harm to the liberty of others by dismissing these facts.

Re: Apple Unveils The iPhone 5S

#580

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More importantly, what are they talking about when they say 64-bit? The architecture uses 64-bit addresses? The processor uses 64-bit registers? What are the main advantages to current CPUs?

"64-bit processor" almost universally refers to using a 64-bit word size: 64 bits of virtual memory space (even if only some of it is mappable) and 64-bit ALUs. This was well covered when desktops switched, but the main advantages are that certain operations are faster (e.g. RSA) and the extra address space lets you use mmap() and the page cache for everything, instead of writing your own stupid cache. Disadvantages…

I'm not sure why AMD64 didn't specify a 32-bit memory model mode while providing 64-bit registers and the rest of the improvements. Like X32 for Linux. Then if you're not using all that RAM, you can benefit from smaller pointers and so on while still having 64-bit words.
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