couldn't you just purposely dismantle, smash, or kill an activation locked iPhone, and then take it in and have it replaced for 269? i just don't get it. maybe things have changed, but about 6 months ago, my friend sold me his grandpas iPhone 5 that had been dropped into a pool. i had it laying around, and i got really mad one night, and threw it 26 times at a concrete floor. i took it to the apple store the next week with half the logic board missing, and the digitizer pulverized. they said "okay, it will be 269 for a replacement". i mean that seems like an easier solution than trying to hack apples servers...
