The Good, the Bad, and the OOOgly!!
Well, there's the good news (developers flocking)..
And the bad news (Anarchists and ub3r h4ckers flocking)..
What is going to happen is the same thing that happened to windows back in the nineties -- a lot of steps forward, but even more steps back. The more 'developers' that are interested in the iPhone, the higher the likelihood that some of the genius cod3rs out there will be joining the bandwagon. OSX isn't impenetrable, as we all know, and drawing attention to it is just going to increase the attacks and the exploits. Every castle has it's weak point(s). The iPhone is no different. Give it one or two months following the opening of the app store, and watch the phones start going down.
Apple does not have the infrastructure to analyze every bit of code that will be coming through the store. It is just impossible -- if they try, it will be just like having to activate EVERY phone on the sales day, while teaching the buyers Java, CSS, and Knitting at the same time. This means that sooner or later, the exploits in "Great" software will start popping up. Yes, I know background processes won't run on the phone, but do you honestly want someone that will be able to latch on to your GPS coordinates at any moment?
Beyond just the hackers and crackers-- what about the stalkers out there? How many kids now have the iPhone? Personally, if I was a parent, I don't think that I would want ANYONE but myself knowing where my kids were at any given moment. People thought that the MySpace child sex stuff was bad... Well, picture a stalker being able to see where a kid is during the day... and find out when his/her parents are home or not. I know it may sound unplausible.. but just u wait.
I know I am the harbinger of bad news tonight, but there is more: the Big Brother thing has been Waaaaay overplayed. Then again, it has some truth to it. Back when I was using a Blackberry 8800, I noticed how easy it was to tether the GPS settings of the phone to passively broadcast over the cell. Well, how do we know that this sort of thing hasn't been hard-wired into the new iPhones. You may not know this, but every phone for the last decade or so has been built with the "Clipper Chip", which gives certain agencies that we "shall not speak of" the ability to access the data on your phone. This was not only requested by the government, but ordered. The iPhone is no exception. I bet that it will be possible, from Day 1 of the life cycle of the 3g iPhone, to passively track EVERY user using GPS and the Cell-triangulation software that is so conveniently built in. This will not be a 'background process'. It is already part of the fundamental build of the new iPhone. In fact, look at how much they're advertising the location-based technology!
The government pays good money to contractors that can provide aid in maintaining 'national security'. I am a patriot and am all for protecting my rights as an American, but I am still not comfortable knowing how easily and how often such technology gets into the wrong hands. Then again, spreading the phones out all over the world may help us catch a terrorist or two.. So I guess it is ok for the government to spy on everything I say or write, and everywhere I go. Darn, no more nudie bars and sex stores for all of you naughty politicos out there!!
Take all of this with a grain of salt -- It is but my opinion and forecast for what is to come. If you agree fine. If you don't, then tell me why, but don't just flame the post with an ignorant misunderstanding of what I am trying to say.
