You know, I remember perusing Richard Stallman's "The Right to Read" in the early 2000s and thinking "this is all extremely unlikely and way too pessimistic, this stuff will never happen like this" — http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html — and here we are, one step at a time, inching towards trapping our knowledge on devices that only one person can ever use.
Apple security rules leave inherited iPad useless
41–48 of 48 posts
Re: Apple security rules leave inherited iPad useless
#42Madness. Who owns this device really? The physical owner or Apple? Cases like this shows why tablets, like any other computers, should be formatable and reinstallable. Android at least has a factory reset option in the recovery menus for cases like this.
You can 'factory reset' iOS devices through iTunes [https://support.apple.com/kb/ht1414].
This would be the same as google not providing the users google credentials.
Re: Apple security rules leave inherited iPad useless
#43Apple literally cannot win in the media and the current security narrative. If they could/would remotely unlock or reset passwords people would freak out about lax security you could get around by purely faking a written and signed letter. This sucks but is all this heartbreak and fighting with a company worth a 500 dollar toy? This whole thing is ridiculous.
In the US, a judge would likely have ordered Apple to unlock the device and then made them pay the estate's legal fees, since most states actually have laws requiring service providers (such as banks) to give the estate access to a decedent's property upon confirmed proof of death (i.e., a certified copy of the death certificate).
These US laws are generally based on UK estate laws, so it is highly unlikely that a court order would be required in the UK.
Really, for a multi-billion dollar with billions of dollars in profit each quarter, Apple's inability or unwillingness to perform an hour or two of basic legal research is shocking, especiallly considering that they are effectively demanding that the estate pay 500 pounds for access to a toy that likely cost 500 pounds.
Re: Apple security rules leave inherited iPad useless
#44It's hard for me to want to blame Apple for this. The fact of the matter is, they should not have lost those security tokens. I'm getting pretty sick of the externalities of people's unwillingness to manage their information. You lose your password, you lose your device, unless you know how to hack it or can pay someone to do it. If it costs you more to recover your device than it's worth, tough shit. That password i…
This isn't a case of people losing the password to the iPad--they never had it to begin with. They inherited an iPad, which was locked, and Apple refused to unlock it despite proof of death.
Re: Apple security rules leave inherited iPad useless
#45OMG just do a DFU Restore and be done with it.
How is it crippled if you can just restore it? I think the only thing crippled is their heads...
You can have whatever "activation lock" you want active if you do a DFU restore it does not matter. The device will be restored and you'll have full access to it.
WTF why the drama?
Re: Apple security rules leave inherited iPad useless
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Actually this is exactly what I want to happen to any devices that I own. Depending on the executor of the will of course, there is a lot to gain from possession of a device/account. People need to make separate arrangements like password handover etc and sort their affairs out properly. This should be promoted here, not the fact that Apple haven't handed the details over yet. If I were Apple, I'd deny the request to…
People need to make separate arrangements like password handover etc and sort their affairs out properly. And how will that help if someone dies suddenly? I'm guessing you've never dealt with, or watched a friend or family member deal with, probate in that situation. It typically means months of stressful and often heart-wrenching work that has to be done on top of everything else in your life. There are rules and pr…
> And how will that help if someone dies suddenly?
You maintain the will while you are not dying. You send the new password for your Keypass/1Password/whatever to your lawyer in a sealed envelope with instructions that it only be opened when your will is being executed.
Then when you are dying, you can forget about it all because you're busy fighting cancer or whatever and don't have time to do silly things like change passwords.
Then when you are dead, your executor has access to the password store and can start the process of archiving and shutting down any accounts you have.
As for the device: a death certificate is not sufficient to transfer millions of pounds of assets: you also have to have some kind of documentation that the assets belonged to the deceased in the first place. Typically this would be a bank account number, a title deed, or even a receipt for the registration of a vehicle.
Apple is simply trying to protect the actual owner of the devices from people trying to steal them.
Re: Apple security rules leave inherited iPad useless
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
What a great attitude towards user friendliness! Let's apply it to email, online banking and forum accounts while we're at it, shall we?
With these things, there is someone you can talk to that controls the service. If you lose access to your online bank account, then you can call up your bank and have them manually reset it. Since they have alternate trust channels for alternate ways of doing things, (you can check your balance and make transfers by phone in most cases) you can just reuse them to regain access. (God help you if you lose your Gmail ac…
You obviously didn't read the article. This isn't an issue of someone losing their password and subsequently being locked out of their account --- something that Apple would help with. It was mom's iPad. She died. They don't have the pass code and/or iCloud password and Apple won't help them open that up. Sounds fair or unfair depending on your personal beliefs.
Having said that the article is a non-sensible emotional plea for sympathy at the expense of painting Apple as a cold-hearted villain. If they just want to be able to make use of the iPad it's simple to restore it using iTunes.
Re: Apple security rules leave inherited iPad useless
#48Apple literally cannot win in the media and the current security narrative. If they could/would remotely unlock or reset passwords people would freak out about lax security you could get around by purely faking a written and signed letter. This sucks but is all this heartbreak and fighting with a company worth a 500 dollar toy? This whole thing is ridiculous.
> This sucks but is all this heartbreak and fighting with a company worth a 500 dollar toy? This whole thing is ridiculous.
A 500 dollar toy that could well contain photographs and other media from a recently departed that are not available elsewhere.
Yes, it probably is well worth the heartbreak and fighting.