As society degrades practices like this will be more and more valuable. It's part of ultra urban societies and our inevitable future.
Apple’s Activation Lock Will Make It Difficult to Refurbish Macs
91–100 of 144 posts
Re: Apple’s Activation Lock Will Make It Difficult to Refurbish Macs
#92I feel like most posters here aren't reading the full article, specifically this paragraph: > When asked what could be done, Schindler suggests Apple implement a bypass that would allow certified recyclers and refurbishers to unlock donated devices if they’re not reported lost or stolen. And Shindler says 99% of the locked devices his facility receives aren’t lost or stolen. “People don’t steal a phone to then go run…
> Apple implement a bypass that would allow certified recyclers and refurbishers to unlock donated devices Sure, and now please tell me how long it will take for the non certified 'recyclers' to also know how to bypass this activation lock? This bypass will render the whole feature useless, and can be removed the moment this bypass is implemented.
Apple already allows remote unlocks through iCloud.
Re: Apple’s Activation Lock Will Make It Difficult to Refurbish Macs
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
> They're arguing that it's not designed well because it should accommodate recovering parts from phones that were knowingly disposed of without the owner releasing the activation lock first. > As parent comment points out, this could be a simple matter of the refurbisher requesting a release of the lock, sending a request through Apple, and Apple requesting permission of the phone's owner via their account. If the p…
I think it's possible? The activation lock doesn't happen at the hardware level, it's when you're setting up and activating the phone. It has to ask Apple's servers "can I activate this?" and Apple makes you sign in with the Apple ID that it's locked to before authorizing it. Doesn't seem like there should be any technical reason that a "Request permission from registered owner" option wouldn't work as well.
Missed the edit window, but a potential hiccup with this is wiping of user data off of the storage. Once Apple says "yeah you can activate it" I'm not sure if they could enforce a disk wipe. Maybe the data is encrypted with something linked to your Apple ID, and reactivation means the data is junked? Not sure how that works.
Re: Apple’s Activation Lock Will Make It Difficult to Refurbish Macs
#94Apple can still unlock these phones. If people are really concerned about the waste generated by unlockable stolen phones, they should try turning it in at an Apple store.
Re: Apple’s Activation Lock Will Make It Difficult to Refurbish Macs
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
> You can't make a security feature with a backdoor, or it's not security feature anymore. Why are you so 100% sure that there's no way that Apple could design a system to keep it secure and allow recycling? There's hundreds of ways they could design their security flow where recycling is possible.
>Why are you so 100% sure that there's no way that Apple could design a system to keep it secure and allow recycling? There's hundreds of ways they could design their security flow where recycling is possible. Can you list some of them? How would you prevent unscrupulous recylers from turning into fences for stolen macs?
You have a system that allows the recycler to indirectly contact the device owner and offer them a choice of having the device returned or a small iTunes credit provided in return for the device being unlocked.
Everyone wins. More stolen devices returned less electronic waste in the landfill.
Re: Apple’s Activation Lock Will Make It Difficult to Refurbish Macs
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
So you picked up, before you spun up your hauteur engine, that that number is not six thousand stolen iPhones, but six thousand trashed and recycled ones? And that there's no way to communicate to a user that their lock prevents it from being done? There's no reason why a user can't be asked by Apple "hey, a recycler received this locked iPhone, do you want to wipe and unlock it for recycling?" save for an unwillingn…
I think the (valid if cynical) implication is that a large number of those "trashed and recycled" phones were trashed and recycled by people who are...not the owners.
Which is why a system that allows recyclers to verify if a device was stolen and return stolen devices and get locked non-stolen devices would be good?
Re: Apple’s Activation Lock Will Make It Difficult to Refurbish Macs
#97I feel like most posters here aren't reading the full article, specifically this paragraph: > When asked what could be done, Schindler suggests Apple implement a bypass that would allow certified recyclers and refurbishers to unlock donated devices if they’re not reported lost or stolen. And Shindler says 99% of the locked devices his facility receives aren’t lost or stolen. “People don’t steal a phone to then go run…
> Apple implement a bypass that would allow certified recyclers and refurbishers to unlock donated devices Sure, and now please tell me how long it will take for the non certified 'recyclers' to also know how to bypass this activation lock? This bypass will render the whole feature useless, and can be removed the moment this bypass is implemented.
Not if the bypass requires a cryptographicly signed verification by Apple that the device was not reported stolen.
Re: Apple’s Activation Lock Will Make It Difficult to Refurbish Macs
#98Generally it’s not too difficult to get someone to unlock the Mac before returning it.
The upside of the activation lock is amazing. I remember how it was before, I had several friends who had their phones stolen - some were even mugged for it.
These days, criminals don’t bother trying to steal iPhones, because they know they’ll be a useless brick that no fence will pay for. Getting this for the Mac, too, is a massive benefit to Mac-owners.
Re: Apple’s Activation Lock Will Make It Difficult to Refurbish Macs
#99I'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…
I think you might be confusing security during your ownership of a device vs what happens to your device after owning it.
Once you’re done using your device, it isn’t as easy to swap parts between macs without triggering the T2 chip where hardware changes must be okayed in an Apple.
That will flush secondary and used Mac markets away and back to Apple to likely do the same at the higher price point.
The used Mac marketplace is invaluable for new and young creators to get into a platform like Mac.
Re: Apple’s Activation Lock Will Make It Difficult to Refurbish Macs
#100You 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…
> You can't make a security feature with a backdoor, or it's not security feature anymore. Why are you so 100% sure that there's no way that Apple could design a system to keep it secure and allow recycling? There's hundreds of ways they could design their security flow where recycling is possible.
> Why are you so 100% sure that there's no way that Apple could design a system to keep it secure and allow recycling?
Math. Math tells me that is impossible. It's basic cryptography. Adding a second key that someone else has makes it inherently insecure.