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Planned obsolescence: Apple attacked for the “serialization” of its spare parts

lemonde.fr

21–30 of 137 posts

Re: Planned obsolescence: Apple attacked for the “serialization” of its spare parts

#21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the camera represents the analog hole. If you can replace the camera, you can hook the phone up to a computer and feed it pictures of faces instead, until the phone unlocks.

If you find that attack vector so scary, I'm sorry to inform you that it is already possible to prop up an iphone against a pizza box and have it stare at a screen showing a feed of pictures. Admittedly you might have to put the iphone on its side so you can get the charging cable in there, which means you might have to figure out how to rotate the pictures too.

FaceID uses 3D data as well. You can’t unlock it with just a 2D image of a face.

Re: Planned obsolescence: Apple attacked for the “serialization” of its spare parts

#23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the camera represents the analog hole. If you can replace the camera, you can hook the phone up to a computer and feed it pictures of faces instead, until the phone unlocks.

If you find that attack vector so scary, I'm sorry to inform you that it is already possible to prop up an iphone against a pizza box and have it stare at a screen showing a feed of pictures. Admittedly you might have to put the iphone on its side so you can get the charging cable in there, which means you might have to figure out how to rotate the pictures too.

Do you have a source for that? Don’t iPhones use a 3D mapping via infrared? 2D pictures don’t unlock my iPhone.

Re: Planned obsolescence: Apple attacked for the “serialization” of its spare parts

#24

Such considerations must incorporate public safety/crime considerations as well. Smartphones are often the most expensive thing we have on our person and became a huge target for thieves. Locking/bricking went a long way towards reducing this, and then limiting the value of resale parts did again.

Honestly I wish they would serial lock every single part of the phone possible. And then unlock them when you detach your apple account from it. Put up a message that says "This display is owned by another apple account" and refuse to function until it's removed or you contact the owner to have it unlinked. Unless Apple is dealing with thefts at the factories before they make it in to a phone.

Technically they could do this already, it could just cause some bad publicity when people who got their phone 3rd party repaired wake up with a message that their screen is stolen.

Re: Planned obsolescence: Apple attacked for the “serialization” of its spare parts

#25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any technique with makes it impossible to repair or recondition by definition also makes it more difficult to pwn. See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35954422 for one example.

That isn't a repaired product but a fake one. You can also buy fake iphones today which are near indistinguishable from the real thing unless you have a deep knowledge into the product, you can have a look on youtube. Preventing repairs did not help them on that aspect.

By "did not help", you meant "did not completely 100% solve the problem", right? In the same way that seat belts do not help traffic fatalities because there are still traffic fatalities?

Re: Planned obsolescence: Apple attacked for the “serialization” of its spare parts

#26
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That isn't a repaired product but a fake one. You can also buy fake iphones today which are near indistinguishable from the real thing unless you have a deep knowledge into the product, you can have a look on youtube. Preventing repairs did not help them on that aspect.

By "did not help", you meant "did not completely 100% solve the problem", right? In the same way that seat belts do not help traffic fatalities because there are still traffic fatalities?

No, I meant that it did not solve any issue in this area at all, fake iPhone are as easily available as other fake brands. It's 0% affecting fake products which have their own separate supply chain anyways.

Re: Planned obsolescence: Apple attacked for the “serialization” of its spare parts

#27
post #7

Interesting bit (translated) : > A practice contrary to the principle of the anti-waste law > In France, serialization is theoretically prohibited, according to Alexandre Isaac. Since the entry into force of the anti-waste law in November 2021, the consumer code mentions that "any technique, including software, by which a marketer aims to make it impossible to repair or recondition a device or to limit the restoratio…

Huh, I wonder if a lawyer could win the argument that printer companies who restrict 3rd-party cartridges violate this law... Next on eBay: "Buy French ink for HP printers, use VPN to download the French drivers!". "PC CHARGER LA LETTRE?! WTF does that mean?"

Pourquoi ça indique "bourrage de papier", alors qu'il n'y a pas de bourrage?

Re: Planned obsolescence: Apple attacked for the “serialization” of its spare parts

#29
post #10

I don't mean to be the devil's advocate, but I'm pretty sure that disabling Face ID when replacing the camera with a generic one is primarily a measure to thwart potential hardware-based attacks...

There are simple ways to allow hardware changes without losing security. One straightforward idea: Once the phone is unlocked (e.g. by pin code) allow the user to authorize the new hardware. This is effectively what Apple does already. The usual difficulties with asking users to make security choices don't really apply here: Physical changes to the hardware are requires, so security fatigue isn't as big a deal. Maybe…

I can see used devices being more trustworthy if the hardware is not able to be modified by the previous owner.

Re: Planned obsolescence: Apple attacked for the “serialization” of its spare parts

#30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are simple ways to allow hardware changes without losing security. One straightforward idea: Once the phone is unlocked (e.g. by pin code) allow the user to authorize the new hardware. This is effectively what Apple does already. The usual difficulties with asking users to make security choices don't really apply here: Physical changes to the hardware are requires, so security fatigue isn't as big a deal. Maybe…

I can see used devices being more trustworthy if the hardware is not able to be modified by the previous owner.

Just make it possible to display the list of hw changes.
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