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Things the guys who stole my phone have texted me to try to get me to unlock it

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Re: Things the guys who stole my phone have texted me to try to get me to unlock it

#221

Post by JumpCrisscross »

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #216
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Clearly this isn't true, as her phone got stolen Older iPhones are still in the wild. I wouldn't expect every pickpocket to be adept at differentiating them at a glance.

But that still has the same result, doesn't it? "Anti-theft" measure doesn't prevent the theft, only prevents third party repairs. The average thief probably doesn't even distinguish between Apple and Android phones. A literal pickpocket is only going to have as information the outline of a phone-shaped thing in your pocket. If they lift it off of you and can't use it, they've still stolen it.

> still has the same result, doesn't it?

I can tell at a glance if someone's on an iPhone or not. I can't as similarly which generation they're on.

The FCC, at the very least, seems to find merit in the deterrence value of such measures [1]. (From a purely-retributive standpoint, I find some satisfaction in knowing someone stole a brick that needs to be parted out, versus getting a working device.)

[1] https://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-DGB-39237

Re: Things the guys who stole my phone have texted me to try to get me to unlock it

#222

Post by icehawk »

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #210
bnchrch wrote: post #10

Honestly. This is a pretty good advertisement for Apple. I appreciate the effort that they've put into making my device less valuable to thiefs.

Apple puts effort into making you go to them for repair parts. Any deterrence against thieves is simply a fringe benefit. Don't credit them for something that isn't actually their goal.

Deterrence against thieves is a pretty big benefit.

Meanwhile there's massive amount of low-quality parts i have to wade through when wanting to order a replacement battery.

Re: Things the guys who stole my phone have texted me to try to get me to unlock it

#223

Post by mlyle »

spookie wrote: post #122
mlyle wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If my phone gets stolen from my pocket in the US, the chance of it wandering to the third world and then a Good Samaritan trying to give it back seem abysmal.

But what if you don't live in the US. You actually live in a "third world" country? These are the type of things that make it very hard for Apple to penetrate markets outside the US.

What we're discussing: you can put any message you want on the phone for how it can be returned to you.

Some people are mentioning that if Apple is given the phone, Apple will also help (and that they'd prefer to not put that message in place as a result).

> These are the type of things that make it very hard for Apple to penetrate markets outside the US.

Can you explain how this is much worse than, say, Google or Samsung?

Re: Things the guys who stole my phone have texted me to try to get me to unlock it

#224

Post by wincy »

sershe wrote: post #204

Makes me wish we could do proper punishment adjustment, taking into account the percentage of criminals punished, using this app. Let's say punishment X would deter phone theft. Now take the phones stolen, and how many are recovered with criminals punished, 1 in N. To actually deter theft, the punishment needs to be X*N; I'm pretty sure for realistic X (e.g. 6 months in jail?) and N (huge), the proper punishment is d…

Easy now Rorschach, would you really want to live in a society like this? I could imagine finding out my cousin got murdered because he didn’t realize he was selling old iPhones that were stolen with a plan like this. This is comic book levels of absurdity and extremism.

Re: Things the guys who stole my phone have texted me to try to get me to unlock it

#225

Post by Zuiii »

Ironically, Apple's monopolistic and predatory restrictions on spare parts will still allow this scumbag to make a profit, even after he has failed to access her phone. Had Apple allowed people to access parts, her phone would be absolutely worthless.

Apple's abuse of our laws is what's making iphone thefts still profitable. Ironic.

Re: Things the guys who stole my phone have texted me to try to get me to unlock it

#226

Post by AnthonyMouse »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #221
AnthonyMouse wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that still has the same result, doesn't it? "Anti-theft" measure doesn't prevent the theft, only prevents third party repairs. The average thief probably doesn't even distinguish between Apple and Android phones. A literal pickpocket is only going to have as information the outline of a phone-shaped thing in your pocket. If they lift it off of you and can't use it, they've still stolen it.

> still has the same result, doesn't it? I can tell at a glance if someone's on an iPhone or not. I can't as similarly which generation they're on. The FCC, at the very least, seems to find merit in the deterrence value of such measures [1]. (From a purely-retributive standpoint, I find some satisfaction in knowing someone stole a brick that needs to be parted out, versus getting a working device.) [1] https://www.ws…

> I can tell at a glance if someone's on an iPhone or not.

How? Most people have a phone case and then all you can see is the case. Pretty much all modern phones are the same shape.

> The FCC, at the very least, seems to find merit in the deterrence value of such measures

People don't like it when someone steals their phone, so they demand the government Do Something, so the government proposes to Do Something, regardless of whether the something is effective. Classic politician's syllogism.

> From a purely-retributive standpoint, I find some satisfaction in knowing someone stole a brick that needs to be parted out, versus getting a working device.

The modern world isn't any fun. "I willingly compromised my own ability to repair my phone so a hypothetical thief might be put out."

People should be carrying around decoy phones that are full of sticky glitter and skunk scent, boobytrapped with blasting caps. If you're going to take revenge then do it well.

Re: Things the guys who stole my phone have texted me to try to get me to unlock it

#227

Post by nebula8804 »

sosodev wrote: post #109
r0m4n0 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s interesting though… it’s still worth something to thieves, they still can recycle the screen, buttons, case etc. I’ve had my iPhone stolen in recent years too, people can’t resist. Don’t get me wrong, it does feel good to stick it to the perp but doesn’t apple itself have the most to gain from locking most of the value away? The second hand market is completely gated by them. Broken FaceID? You need a new phone……

Aren’t most of the parts tied to the motherboard?

Each generation seems to add an additional part. I know they serialize Face ID module, maybe the screen, the battery gives an indicator in the settings menu that its not OEM but it still works. I doubt the case or volume buttons are tied to the phone but what else is left? The Antenna or USB-C port?

Re: Things the guys who stole my phone have texted me to try to get me to unlock it

#228

Post by nebula8804 »

koito17 wrote: post #86
makeworld wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Clearly this isn't true, as her phone got stolen.

Yup. I assume there is plenty of value to be found selling donor boards and other parts of the iPhone. Not saying it's a repair shop's fault if they end up with motherboards of a stolen phone, but if I were a thief dealing with an activation-locked phone, my first idea would be a jailbreak, and if that fails, then disassemble the phone and sell the parts. Presumably thieves already do these things (and more sophistic…

What is on the board that can be used? Obviously the SOC is out. Maybe just the RAM or Flash? Is there really anything else?

Re: Things the guys who stole my phone have texted me to try to get me to unlock it

#229

Post by nebula8804 »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #142
koito17 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup. I assume there is plenty of value to be found selling donor boards and other parts of the iPhone. Not saying it's a repair shop's fault if they end up with motherboards of a stolen phone, but if I were a thief dealing with an activation-locked phone, my first idea would be a jailbreak, and if that fails, then disassemble the phone and sell the parts. Presumably thieves already do these things (and more sophistic…

You really have to be careful with third-party iPhone repairs, especially in China. I had my phone repaired once, and when I got it back...it kind of worked, but they swapped out another part for something that was broken to ensure repeat business. That was in the iPhone 1 days though.

Its been about 17 years since the iPhone 1 days...

Re: Things the guys who stole my phone have texted me to try to get me to unlock it

#230

Post by shiroiushi »

iknowstuff wrote: post #181
MyFedora wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, this is a side effect of Apple striving to design the world's most unrepairable devices, or more accurately, earn more money with overpriced repairs by creating an artifical monopoly on Apple device repairs using part pairing. Why else would there be no option to pair parts for repairs if you can prove that you are the owner of the device?

I know this is a hot take but hear me out. I think it makes sense these days for Apple to make phones without much care for repairability. Labor is too expensive to bother with spending hours on repairing a phone. Cheaper to produce new one. The problem with that is the environmental impact of disposable electronics, but Apple is leading the way and using recycled materials, avoiding plastic, becoming carbon neutral…

>Apple is leading the way and using recycled materials, avoiding plastic, becoming carbon neutral etc.

How is avoiding plastic better? If you mean by making phone bodies out of metal, that's not better for the environment. It takes a LOT more energy to make things out of metal than plastic, and even though metal is recyclable, that too takes a LOT of energy (high melting point), and for a small item like a phone seems rather unlikely anyway. Plastic is recyclable too, it just isn't done much because people don't want to and it costs too much.

>It makes sense and stops being a problem when the entire product is recyclable and/or uses recycled material in the first place.

Phones are not "recyclable", and likely never will be. There's far too many different materials in them, which can't be readily separated.

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