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SiriSpy – iOS bug allowed apps to eavesdrop on your conversations with Siri

rambo.codes

251–259 of 259 posts

Re: SiriSpy – iOS bug allowed apps to eavesdrop on your conversations with Siri

#251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a physical disconnect. More like firmware disconnect. Purism have a physical kill switch for the microphone in their laptop.

They pretty clearly state the disconnect is “implemented in hardware alone” about three times in the support article, how would that not be a physical implementation?

What are the physically moving parts in the iPad? How is the T2 connected to the laptop lid, where does the contact breaks? It's pure corporate doublespeak. Especially without schematics, unlike with Purism.

Re: SiriSpy – iOS bug allowed apps to eavesdrop on your conversations with Siri

#252
post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a half solution: You can create a Shortcut that turns of BT/Wi-Fi completely. You can then add that Shortcut to your home screen for easy access. That's what I do and it's way nicer than going to Settings, though I wish it was just in Control Center.

how do you do this?

Go to the Shortcuts app that comes with the phone. You can create shortcuts to do just about anything, in this case you'd make one that sets WiFi to Off and sets Bluetooth to Off. Then that shortcut can be turned into an app icon that you can just press any time.

Re: SiriSpy – iOS bug allowed apps to eavesdrop on your conversations with Siri

#253
post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zerodium would happily buy this for probably $50k minimum.

Is it legal to sell these exploits? Obviously using it is illegal but I wonder if even selling it to someone else who would use it is illegal. I would happily pick $7,000 clean money over $50,000 dirty.

It’s legal in most of the world, including the US.

Re: SiriSpy – iOS bug allowed apps to eavesdrop on your conversations with Siri

#254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple could better describe the action that will be performed, e.g. "Slide to Suspend".

Try to turn off your iPhone. It says right on the screen it will be broadcasting its location even when it’s off.

> broadcasting.. when it's off.

So, not off then.

Re: SiriSpy – iOS bug allowed apps to eavesdrop on your conversations with Siri

#255
post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My only usage of it is as a push-button dictionary/translator, "define x", "how do you say x in Spanish". For every other use I've found it extremely limited, you have to ask the right questions, otherwise it defaults to a web search on my wife's phone, even if she's not in the room. How, after all these years, is it still so stunted? There are Telegram bots with better interaction.

I almost got excited. "how do you say x in Spanish", what a great use of Siri. "How do you say Thank You in Dutch?" => "I can't translate into Dutch yet." Oh come on, there are only half a dozen online translators which can do it. Some mid-upper level manager in Apple should be ashamed. And every exec above them in the line to the top.

> "How do you say Thank You in Dutch?" => "I can't translate into Dutch yet."

Oh no, that's awful. I mostly translate between Spanish and English, it didn't occur to me that Siri was less capable than Apple's own Translator app, it makes no sense.

Re: SiriSpy – iOS bug allowed apps to eavesdrop on your conversations with Siri

#256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently saw a conversation somewhere about this, people said turning off swipe-typing made a significant difference in the keyboard experience. Haven't tested it myself as I use swipe, and have no issues. But might be worth a try.

I moved from a Huawei P10 plus to a fairphone 4, and I'm not sure what happened but the typing and autocomplete experience is awful

Maybe it's the keyboard, Huawei phones usually had SwiftKey as the default keyboard

Re: SiriSpy – iOS bug allowed apps to eavesdrop on your conversations with Siri

#257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They pretty clearly state the disconnect is “implemented in hardware alone” about three times in the support article, how would that not be a physical implementation?

What are the physically moving parts in the iPad? How is the T2 connected to the laptop lid, where does the contact breaks? It's pure corporate doublespeak. Especially without schematics, unlike with Purism.

A disconnect doesn't have to move to be implemented in hardware. They describe the implementation in the article linked above:

> In each product with a hardware microphone cutoff, one or more lid sensors detect the physical closure of the lid or case using some physical property (for example, a Hall effect sensor or a hinge angle sensor) of the interaction. For sensors where calibration is necessary, parameters are set during production of the device and the calibration process includes a nonreversible hardware lock out of any subsequent changes to sensitive parameters on the sensor. These sensors emit a direct hardware signal that goes through a simple set of nonreprogrammable hardware logic. This logic provides debounce, hysteresis, and/or a delay of up to 500 ms before disabling the microphone. Depending on the product, this signal can be implemented either by disabling the lines transporting data between the microphone and the System on Chip (SoC) or by disabling one of the input lines to the microphone module that’s allowing it to be active—for example, the clock line or a similar effective control.

Re: SiriSpy – iOS bug allowed apps to eavesdrop on your conversations with Siri

#258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hopefully legislated right-to-repair can open the door to aftermarket mods, including phone body with new switches that can electrically disconnect specific sensors.

Ehhhh... is right to repair the right phrasing? I worry about requiring switches in the same way one can require a universal standard for power delivery. (The EU did that recently... good move IMO, though I can understand the delay since discussions about amperages and whatnot do take time.[0]) Maybe requiring anyone who wants to contract with the US government to offer such a model, and that said model be available…

"Right to Repair" is the terminology that has gained the most legal traction (e.g. some narrowly-scoped legislation) in the US and EU. https://www.repair.org/

Re: SiriSpy – iOS bug allowed apps to eavesdrop on your conversations with Siri

#259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They pretty clearly state the disconnect is “implemented in hardware alone” about three times in the support article, how would that not be a physical implementation?

What are the physically moving parts in the iPad? How is the T2 connected to the laptop lid, where does the contact breaks? It's pure corporate doublespeak. Especially without schematics, unlike with Purism.

This is a strange way to reason about electronics. A processor is a “physically moving part.”

Hardware !== clunky obvious tactile contraptions

Anyway, I actually have an answer for you, at least for apple portable computers — most new macs come with a sophisticated lid angle sensor used to detect the display angle with high precision. (Previous models used more conventional Hall effect sensors which didn’t live to apples standards for a hardware cut off

Why is it importable to know the precise angle of the display in relation to the top case of the computer? Because you can detect when it’s closed with a high degree of confidence!

> How is the T2 connected to the laptop lid, where does the contact breaks?

So, your comment clearly indicates that you have very little experience with apple products and industrial design and engineer. You also made no effort to look into the matter see if you could find an answer yourself (it took me 4 mins of googling to connect the new LAS to the mic cutoff when computer is closed.

So you made a spurious allegation that apple was lying, when pushed on it, you followed up with an even more nonsensical comment that made your lack of hardware experience more obvious.

And after all of that, rather than having the self-awareness to drop the matter, or at very least, do some of your own research, you instead decide to sign off by accusing apple of misleading their users.

Super weird.

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