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Apple’s Activation Lock Will Make It Difficult to Refurbish Macs

ifixit.com

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Re: Apple’s Activation Lock Will Make It Difficult to Refurbish Macs

#121

Post by lonelappde »

Gorbzel wrote: post #111
chasil wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do not agree. Apple could play the go-between. They could alert the previous owner that the device has been found, and provide a grace period where a user could request return, for a fee, including Apple's S&H, and a finders' fee for the reporting agent. At the expiration of the grace period, Apple could provide a device reset code.

Why is Apple required to act as law enforcement? Moreso, even if they could, why as consumers and technicians should we want them to? HNers go on and on about big brother Cupertino all the time, but ooh some (well intentioned but misguided) refurb/recycling shop writes an article and all of a sudden critical thinking goes out the window.

Apple is inserting itself as law enforcement. That's what the OP is about. So they should do it right.

Also, please refrain from snide remarks, per HN commenting guidelines. Let your arguments stand on their merits.

Re: Apple’s Activation Lock Will Make It Difficult to Refurbish Macs

#122

Post by lonelappde »

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #29
crazygringo wrote: post #5

I'm entirely on Apple's side here. It makes me very happy, as a consumer, knowing that if someone steals my phone, they can't get any value out of it. I don't want them to be able to sell it to a refurbisher for cash. And I don't want them to be able to do it with my laptop either. And for refurbishers, it's not hard to make it an obvious required step for anyone looking to sell their own legitimately-owned phone. Yo…

> But it still makes me feel better a thief will get $30, not $300, for my phone -- that's often enough of a difference between it being worth it or not. Typically the value of a computer is about the same as the sum of its parts, because otherwise plenty of people would be up for a $270 profit by buying $30 worth of parts and assembling them to sell as a $300 computer. > And if people are dropping these off for recy…

Assembling a phone is a lot harder than assembling a tower PC.

Re: Apple’s Activation Lock Will Make It Difficult to Refurbish Macs

#123

Post by lonelappde »

FireBeyond wrote: post #106
threeseed wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not the thieves themselves but buyers. Used to be very common for someone to buy an iPhone on eBay, realise it was activation locked and then see comments everywhere on how to remove it. My guess is many of those people would end up just throwing the phone away.

Hah. I had the buyer of my stolen iPhone 8 on eBay contact me and say "Hey, it says this phone is yours - since you've probably already replaced it, can you help me unlock it so I'm not -also- getting ripped off?". Pretty ballsy.

Maybe for a fee it's worth it.

Re: Apple’s Activation Lock Will Make It Difficult to Refurbish Macs

#126

Post by rootusrootus »

llampx wrote: post #117
chasil wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do not agree. Apple could play the go-between. They could alert the previous owner that the device has been found, and provide a grace period where a user could request return, for a fee, including Apple's S&H, and a finders' fee for the reporting agent. At the expiration of the grace period, Apple could provide a device reset code.

I fail to see why Apple would do this. Is this going to bring them more money?

If they did it, it would probably need to be accounted for as a form of goodwill.

Re: Apple’s Activation Lock Will Make It Difficult to Refurbish Macs

#127

Post by meddlin »

mvanbaak wrote: post #82
293984j29384 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I agree with the overall idea behind your post, your assumption that the activation lock can be defeated by sheer git and determination is silly. If implemented correctly (and I have no idea if it will be) it's very likely that it won't be bypassed.

If there's a way to bypass it, it will be used. By the authorized recyclers as well as the thieves (including government agencies).

Yep. This is awfully close to the staring contest between Apple and the US gov't a while back on unlocking iPhones for criminal investigations.

I know--different context--but the technical implementation is similar. Which would suggest the impact of those discussions is larger than previously thought.

Re: Apple’s Activation Lock Will Make It Difficult to Refurbish Macs

#128

Post by dwild »

mrtksn wrote: post #13

I am a big fan of iFixit and dig their teardowns just as much as the device releases themselves but their "Companies should prioritize on ease of repair even if it makes the devices less portable and less secure" narrative flips me. I never, ever buy devices for repair purposes or to resell them without bothering to do a factory re-set. The ideal device is one that doesn't need a repair and I do not accept for my dev…

> The whole "this is garbage and this company should make this in a way that we like" is really annoying when it is written in an authoritative tone and rallies a mob.

Don't your whole comment do the same? They are giving their opinion based on their preference. For sure it will be bias toward their goal, just like you want them to stop, so that your goal, keeping the statu quo, win.

I prefer repairability because I want to be able to repair my own things and not depends as much on others. I don't expect them to do it, but I will say it loudly so that people know that my market exist. I also consider that better for the society in general, thus I will also push the government to go toward that too, because I consider the government should work toward the society better. Does it means my position will win? No, but I still have the right to defends it, just like you have the right to defends yours.

Re: Apple’s Activation Lock Will Make It Difficult to Refurbish Macs

#129

Post by dwild »

jedberg wrote: post #38

You can't make a security feature with a backdoor, or it's not security feature anymore. I'm with Apple on this. They really have no way of knowing that you're selling/giving away the phone, so they can't have the phone tell you to unlock. That's really on the buyer. They need to know about getting the seller to reset. Right now Sprint is running a deal where they give you a new phone if you turn in the old one. In v…

> They really have no way of knowing that you're selling/giving away the phone, so they can't have the phone tell you to unlock.

They have a way to contacting the owner to remove the lock. Why don't they do allow that? That would even allow to get back the device for the original owner.

The issue here is that Apple doesn't works toward making it harder to steal, they works toward making it harder to resell.

Re: Apple’s Activation Lock Will Make It Difficult to Refurbish Macs

#130

Post by AnthonyMouse »

lonelappde wrote: post #122
AnthonyMouse wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But it still makes me feel better a thief will get $30, not $300, for my phone -- that's often enough of a difference between it being worth it or not. Typically the value of a computer is about the same as the sum of its parts, because otherwise plenty of people would be up for a $270 profit by buying $30 worth of parts and assembling them to sell as a $300 computer. > And if people are dropping these off for recy…

Assembling a phone is a lot harder than assembling a tower PC.

Not really. The parts are smaller and less standardized but generally speaking you put the screws in the holes and it turns into a phone.

Moreover, isn't this article about Macs anyway?

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