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Government Officials Praise 'Activation Lock' Feature of iOS 7 Following Public Release

uber_nerd said:
Oh politicians! Yes, this feature was magically created after your grand standing... no one ever thought it was a good idea before that or started all work necessary to bring it to fruition.

Talk about ego and self-aggrandising!
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You nailed it. Another politician/government agency taking credit for what we do all the time in the private sector: Innovate, Inspire, and Produce (products, services, jobs).
 
goobot said:
There was an unlock for the iPhone 4 tho.
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Yes in MOST cases, but if you happen to have one specific version of some update (not iOS, but some other lower level thing, I forget what it was), then you're out of luck. Turns out her iPhone 4 was that specific number. On all the hacking sites it was officially stated that if you have that number, then the only way to unlock it is if you have a backup of a previous iOS version. Since she got the phone used, she didn't have the backup, and you can't just get someone else's backup since every iPhone has a unique ID. You can't fake the IDs. That's why people are selling them for money in jailbreaking forums.
 
stanluca said:
What happens if you buy someone's old phone on CL and they report it stolen? Do you end up with a brick? How do you delete iTunes activation account all together?
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This feature has nothing to do with anyone reporting a phone as having been stolen. The seller has to deactivate the Activation Lock before they sell it to you. Following the buyer beware rule, it is the buyer's responsibility to make sure the Activation Lock has been deactivated before they hand over money for the phone.
 
Since this new fingerprint sensor is "so damn good," I wish there was a feature that would just brick your phone if your fingerprint doesn't pass the sensor scan...rendering the phone useless without an Apple ID validation....

Like...realizing the fingerprint is invalid, and thus completely locking anybody out from the phone until a hard unlock is done by the master user.
 
SatManager said:
It is a step forward for security only if people activate "Find my Phone" and put a passcode on the iPhone. Since there are studies that indicate that about half of the phones don't even use a passcode to lock the phone, the "Activation Lock" isn't going to be active. So until Apple requires a passcode to install iOS, security will never be complete on the iPhone.
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It's been fairly clear that Activation Lock does not require the iPhone to have a passcode to work.

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Yamcha said:
What a surprise, obviously governments praise the activation lock features, it gives them the ability to snoop on citizens.
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How, exactly, to you think Activation Lock gives governments the ability to snoop on its citizens?

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stiligFox said:
I know this a silly question, but what about a DFU restore?
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Activation Lock will still stop you at the activation step. Since the phone was not unlocked and wiped by the owner, the activation server will not activate the phone unless you can enter the owner's Apple ID and password.
 
dayalprem said:
I don't think so, most of the thefts involved have some connections with the insiders in the apple store. I have personally seen how they work. They make the phone physically dead and then ask for a replacement. this way the TouchID was never used at all by them.
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That's not gonna get around activation lock
 
Four oF NINE said:
This is great step forward for security. Maybe thefts will be reduced.
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I have had two iPhones stolen from me, one a 3GS and the other an iPhone 5. In both cases I recovered them by getting vigilante with Find My iPhone and a lot of yelling. Now, also, in BOTH cases, the thieves had NO idea that I could find them. The funny thing is that the second time, with the iPhone 5, the thief called himself with my phone, "to see if it worked", so I got his number in my AT&T call logs. If my phone had been passcode protected, I wouldn't have gotten his number! I think that for the most part the new security features will not prevent theft, but they will better protect your data. People who know what iPhones do are probably not the thieves. They didn't see the keynote, but they do see a valuable item, all alone.
 
vsighi said:
I do like this...makes me feel like I can leave my iPad/iPhone in the lunch room and come back after one hour and found my device right there on the table :D
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You're hoping the thieves keep up with technology news (they don't), they will steal it assuming that its like all the rest and won't find out until later.
 
StyxMaker said:
It's been fairly clear that Activation Lock does not require the iPhone to have a passcode to work.

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My misunderstanding - when it asked me to create a passcode as part of the activation lock process I thought it was required. I didn't try to refuse to not create a passcode during the install process so I don't know what it would have done. This was on my iPad 3 which I don't normally passcode as it never leaves home so the theft risk is low.

I do know that a passcode is required for some services to be active or you have to log in each time you use the service (find my friends for example, which would use the same locations services for theft recovery).

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winston1236 said:
You're hoping the thieves keep up with technology news (they don't), they will steal it assuming that its like all the rest and won't find out until later.
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But it will get around that iPhones are not worth the time. But the bigger problem is the pressure on Samsung and Google to come up with something that works just as well as "Activation Lock" and can be installed on the number of phones sold in the past 3 years (the years the iPhones 4s to the current models has been sold). With the fragmentation of Android, how possible is that going to be?
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It will take the incentive away, and probably make some dent in reducing thefts. However, it won't prevent theft in general, or robberies, sadly.

Ideally, a stolen iPhone could detonate, destroying not only the phone and its contents, but maybe the thief too!
 
bdkennedy1 said:
Stolen phones can still be re-formatted and hacked.
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No they can't. Even if you downgrade to 6.1.3/6.1.4, it STILL requires the Apple ID during the initial activation process. Even when done through iTunes. I tinkered around with it back in the beta. Maybe if/when there's a jailbreak, but I'd assume it needs a bootrom exploit (and as that stands there's only the iPhone 4 with the Limera1n exploit). And even then, attempting a tethered jailbreak on my old iPhone 4 on 6.1.3 didn't work.
 
kustardking said:
I have had two iPhones stolen from me, one a 3GS and the other an iPhone 5. In both cases I recovered them by getting vigilante with Find My iPhone and a lot of yelling. Now, also, in BOTH cases, the thieves had NO idea that I could find them. The funny thing is that the second time, with the iPhone 5, the thief called himself with my phone, "to see if it worked", so I got his number in my AT&T call logs. If my phone had been passcode protected, I wouldn't have gotten his number! I think that for the most part the new security features will not prevent theft, but they will better protect your data. People who know what iPhones do are probably not the thieves. They didn't see the keynote, but they do see a valuable item, all alone.
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Activation Lock is like 'heard immunity' that is talked about with vaccines. Once the majority of iPhones have Activation Lock turned on, iPhone buyers will stop buying used iPhones that they cannot verify have had Activation Lock unlocked. When the buyers stop buying the thieves will stop stealing.
 
Unfortunately I forgot to shut find my iPhone off before I dfu restored my ios7 iPad to ios6 then sold it. This happened a month ago and I still feel bad who ever gets my iPad it will be useless . I even tried contacting the place I sold it to and they just could not understand the activation lock concept plus the iPad was running ios6 and working.
 
MacRumors said:
Today, Gascón and Schneiderman praised Apple's release of the Activation Lock feature in iOS 7, calling it the "world's first attempt to implement a technological solution to the global smartphone theft epidemic".
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Verizon phones have always had this. If a CDMA phone was reported stolen, it was put on Verizon's blacklist.

Before the iPhone or iPod touch existed, I often cheaply bought such "bad ESN" CDMA phones off eBay, to use as Slingbox handheld TVs around the house, or as game machines for the grandkids.

Edit: well, okay, so they weren't totally useless, just no good as a phone :)
 
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vertgo said:
Also, I guess you have the same problem with someone sending you a rock in a box marked "eyephone."

In other words, sending you an unusable stolen phone has the same negative consequences as sending you a broken phone or not sending you one at all, i'm assuming
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Exactly. This is no different than if someone was passing off a blacklisted IMEI as legit, both on the seller and buyer's end.
 
So what is the process to legally sell my iPhone 5 to a craigslist buyer? Without them running into trouble with activation?
 
About time Apple did *something* ....

However, again, if the thief has your Apple credentials your gone anyway.

But any security is better than none. Even if its kinda weak security.
 
SatManager said:
It is a step forward for security only if people activate "Find my Phone" and put a passcode on the iPhone. Since there are studies that indicate that about half of the phones don't even use a passcode to lock the phone, the "Activation Lock" isn't going to be active. So until Apple requires a passcode to install iOS, security will never be complete on the iPhone.
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Not true. Pass code is not required to activation lock a phone. The user need only have find my iphone enabled
 
ChrisA said:
It's true. Apple actively resisted putting this feature in until they were treated with either legislation of being sued. You see, Apple actually makes money on every iPhone theft because the victim buys another phone. Apple had no incentive to stop this.
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Granted, they, and the industry as a whole, needed a bit of a push to implement the equivalent of legislators' proposed 'kill-switch', but Apple certainly didn't want potential thieves to get the idea that their iDevices were an easy mark to steal and resell. That kind of negative publicity would be much worse, and undermine the company's reputation, far outweighing the extra sales.

I suspect Apple has been looking at the theft-problem for a while, trying to come up with a workable solution. Hopefully this turns out to be that magic fix. iPhones and the like will still get stolen, but once the word gets out, these thefts should drop dramatically.
 
iapplelove said:
That's not gonna get around activation lock
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The point is activation lock is based on the IMEI number, when the hardware is physically changed, the activation is made invalid. And thus the device is registered as a new device, but on the same warranty.

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Windlasher said:
Here in Minneapolis the apple stores were told that if the customer could not physically unlock the phone, there were to be sent packing. They like this because all the cabbies come in with phones asking for them to be unlocked. Now they are told to just get lost.

I guess if its really your phone, you can prove that you bought it.
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As I have said these people have links which are not on records, so they put the phone in as Dead on Arrival and replace it. All it takes is to short the motherboard of the phone.

P.S.: I am saying this as I have a friend who bought his iPhone 5 like this, when I check the warranty on the Apple website, it says that the phone has been replaced, while I am still holding it in my hand.
 
Funny, I never recalled ever hearing about any Government Entity step in and praise people or non profit organizations for being humanitarian and helping countless tens of thousands of people in the community.

The only time you here from the Government is when it is lucrative or beneficial for "them' to some large degree!
 
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