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You do realize that the geiger counter modification is to throw you off from its real purpose.
Most likely with the large hard drive it was a recording device for the CIA given as gifts to visiting foreign delegates and internal covert operations.
 
Really disgusting. We need an explanation from Apple. Can they assure users their devices do not have back doors?
 
When Edward Snowden leaked the NSA classified documents, one of them identified Apple as one of the companies that the government has a secret access door to. Of course Apple and I think that Tim Cook itself denied such possibility. And I always think that both possibilities can be true. Apple may think that there's not secret door, but it's really easy for the government to approach 3 or 4 key Apple engineers, extort them or just pay them, and have ears and eyes into the Apple user data. This article suggest that such thing can be done without leaving any trace inside the targeted company.

Well it appears Apple organized this. So this is a much different situation. Did Snowden identify Apple as actively involved in government contracts? That would seem surprising.
 
I always wonder if companies like Apple make custom modified products that have other features or do other things. Whether for themselves or a government agency.
 
SpyPod...

I'm still wondering why there are no government edition iPhones... I mean MDM does quite a good job in combination with the base security of the OS which is quite high, but I could imagine certain customers in the intelligence gather sector need "custom" features that can only be embedded low level in the device.
They still use a Windows phone for that.
 
To be honest this news along with banning Epic developers has made Apple lose all credibility in privacy,


No wonder apple is pushing their "privacy" marketing campaign to trick people into thinking they are all for consumer privacy when in reality they aren't. It's easier to make people believe you're actually doing something than to actually do it.
How do you now that this story is correct. This is supposed to happen so long ago and the guy telling the story is not allowed to say anything about this, if the story is correct. If it's not correct then ...
 
So the wheel was "clicking" in presence of radioactivity?
If it was a stealth Geiger counter, it wouldn’t have been audible. Imagine a U.S. spy in an Iranian lab whose iPod starts sounding like a Geiger counter. The counter would indicate events on the display.
‘We don’t work with government to build secret backdoors into our products’
This was not a secret backdoor into a product. This was a different product.
This article suggest that such thing can be done without leaving any trace inside the targeted company.
No, it doesn’t. As I’m sure you read, Apple digitally signs operating systems now, so a tinkered OS like the one described couldn’t be deployed.
To be honest this news along with banning Epic developers has made Apple lose all credibility in privacy,


No wonder apple is pushing their "privacy" marketing campaign to trick people into thinking they are all for consumer privacy when in reality they aren't. It's easier to make people believe you're actually doing something than to actually do it.
It didn’t take long for QAnon to find this thread. Know what’s easy? Leveraging ignorance to peddle juicy conspiracy theories. Maybe think of this story as an example of Apple being patriotic and helping our spies fight bad guys, just like Lockheed, and Corning, and Goodyear, and Native Americans, none of which want to drink the life-giving blood of your children in the back of a pizzeria.

And the thing with Epic has nothing to do with privacy.
 
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I wonder if it came wrapped in protective plastic with the warning "Don't Steal Music ... Only State Secrets" 😉
 
Really disgusting. We need an explanation from Apple. Can they assure users their devices do not have back doors?

Absolutely, could you imagine if someone bought a car and modified it (to manufacturer standards -- WITH HELP FROM THE MANUFACTURER) to make it bulletproof for someone like the president?

How would chevy every explain someone modifying their own personally owned property.
 
‘We don’t work with government to build secret backdoors into our products’
And they didn't in this case. A "backdoor into our products" means letting the government see what users are doing on the device. This device was to secretly collect data separately from what the user was doing.
 
Secret iPod = iPhone

So Huawei is banned in the USA because it works with the Chinese military...
Could Apple be banned in China for working with the US military?

To be honest this news along with banning Epic developers for adding in their own payment method (even though they allow Amazon to have their own payment method in their app ) has made Apple lose all credibility in privacy and being developer / consumer friendly company.

Whenever anyone equates the actions of the US Government to the Chinese government, I safely assume they’re under 15 or have never read a single non-fiction book in their lives.
 
And they didn't in this case. A "backdoor into our products" means letting the government see what users are doing on the device. This device was to secretly collect data separately from what the user was doing.
Some of these comments remind me of the Internet hoax of years ago that Bill Gates was reading your emails. Today I would believe it.
 
‘We don’t work with government to build secret backdoors into our products’
There is a difference between a backdoor that is in all devices and a custom device fit for a purpose. I coulod see it being useful when a DOE engineer or other person goes onsite to inspect a foreign countries facilities. If iy had, for example, a radiation detector built in they could take measurements and not have to rely on statements or devices supplied by the country being visited.
 
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This was building a specific version of their product for the government to use.

They weren’t building something into their millions of customer units.

Hey there isn't time to read the article if you want to get a comment in early for the Likes.
 
I always wonder if companies like Apple make custom modified products that have other features or do other things. Whether for themselves or a government agency.

Interesting you ask that question. Attorney General William Barr recently gave a speech in Michigan on the US Government's response to the Chinese Communist Party. I watched it, and during the speech, Barr brought up Apple:

Recently, we were able to get into two cell phones used by the Al-Qaeda terrorist who shot eight Americans at the Pensacola Naval Air Station. During the gun fight with him, he stopped, disengaged, put his cell phones down and tried to destroy them, shooting a bullet into one of his two cell phones and we thought that suggested that there may be very important information about terrorist activities in those cell phones. And for four and a half months we tried to get in, without any help at all from Apple. Apple failed to give us any help getting into the cell phones. We were ultimately able to get in through a fluke that we will not be able to reproduce in the future, where we found communications with Al-Qaeda operatives in the Middle East up to the day before the attack. Do you think when Apple sells phones in China that Apple phones in China are impervious to penetration by Chinese authorities? They wouldn't be sold if they were impervious to Chinese authorities. And what we've asked for is a warrant – when we have a warrant from a court – that we should be able to get into because cellphones. That's the double standard that has been emerging among American tech companies.

Video and transcript here: https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/...hina-policy-gerald-r-ford-presidential-museum

The bolded bit I quoted above seems to suggest that the DOJ knows, or at least suspects, that Apple makes phones with easier access by government entities. It may not happen in the US, but maybe Apple provides a special version of iOS for the Chinese market with decreased security so that the government can monitor the devices? Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised about that, given that Apple and many other US companies, bend over backward to satisfy the Chinese government so that they can have access to their markets.

Barr's comments are worth reading in full.
 
I bought a 2nd hand 3rd gen a few months ago (best design in my option along with the 5th gen), it could do with a new battery but still works and syncs via thunderbolt 1 with the use of 2 adapters - came with the funky dual USB/FireWire cable and the 12v FireWire wall plug and docking station
 
I wonder what else Apple has been up to with the US government?

Really is this surprising? If you put your data out there, expect it to be accessed by someone.
 
You do realize that the geiger counter modification is to throw you off from its real purpose.
Most likely with the large hard drive it was a recording device for the CIA given as gifts to visiting foreign delegates and internal covert operations.
That makes zero sense — it was not a network-connected device — how was the recording supposed to be initiated in your scenario, nevermind retrieved after the fact? "Oh, hey, Ambassador, can I get that iPod I gave you three days ago back? No reason..." Also, the "large hard drive" being taken up would be easily detected as soon as they plugged it into a computer. For their own use, sure, but these would make really poor "bugs".
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i always wondered why my ipod constantly tried to download strange data...
Don't blame your iPod for your music tastes, lol
 
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SpyPod...

I'm still wondering why there are no government edition iPhones... I mean MDM does quite a good job in combination with the base security of the OS which is quite high, but I could imagine certain customers in the intelligence gather sector need "custom" features that can only be embedded low level in the device.

I wouldn't be shocked if "special" iPhones were developed to support overseas intelligence operations. Hat-tip to Apple if that was indeed the case.
 
Theory...

these iPods were designed to work in Africa and Middle East to scan for radioactivity covertly.

most likely when he states the engineers bought several dozen iPods. I’m guessing at least 2 Dozen. 1dozen 30gb & 1 dozen 60gb. They needed the backs of the 30gb to hide the true size of the 60gb.
 
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