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Rumour: Apple’s secret kill switch in iPhone
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| E2EK1EL |
Rumour: Apple’s secret kill switch in iPhone
Posted on 08.08.2008 at 12:59 in Tech News by Martin
It looks like Apple is keeping a closer hold on the iPhone’s apron strings than anyone thought, if information uncovered by Jonathan Zdziarski is to be believed. Speaking on iPhone Atlas on Wednesday, Zdziarski – author of a book on iPhone application development – explained that he was performing “forensic examination of an iPhone 3G” when he discovered a suspicious configuration file in the CoreLocation section of the memory. Upon investigating, he discovered a link to a page on Apple’s website which appears to contain the skeleton for a future application blacklist. The page, called ‘unauthorizedApps’, seems to exist so the iPhone can occasionally download a copy and check the signatures of banned applications against installed applications – if a match is found, the app is disabled immediately. Zdziarski believes that this functionality exists “to disable applications that the user has already downloaded and paid for, if Apple so chooses to shut them down.”
Clearly, there are legitimate reasons why such functionality should exist – although slightly fewer for why it’s undocumented and downright concealed – including the possibility that Apple can update iPhones with a sort of anti-malware by listing known ‘bricking’ programs in the blacklist. However, it demonstrates that even a ‘jailbroken’ iPhone might not escape Apple’s clutches for long – and how sure can you be that Installer.App or your favourite non-Apple approved software won’t hit the blacklist once it’s activated? Anyone here worried about the possibilities of a hidden remote app killer developed by Apple, or does the Cupertino company just have your best interests at heart?
Source: Bit-tech
https://iphone-services.apple.com/clbl/unauthorizedApps |
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| Cosmic Fur |
| Can you keep all this iPhone stuff to just one thread or something? This isn't the Apple forum. |
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| E2EK1EL |
| quote: | Originally posted by Cosmic Fur
Can you keep all this iPhone stuff to just one thread or something? This isn't the Apple forum. |
Nope, all related news regarding Apple products will get it's own thread from now on. The general public needs to know how Apple really is. |
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| Dave Akermanis |
The prophecy has been fulfilled!
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| DigiNut |
| Anybody remember the furor that erupted when Microsoft tried to do the same thing with its product activation? And theirs was a lot less blatant, pretty much limited to their own software and whichever vendors chose to use their system (i.e. nobody). |
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| Dave Akermanis |
Source: LA Times
Original Article
Eight iPhone owners have joined an elite clan: Their Apple gadget is running a program that cost nearly $1,000.
When the iPhone first hit the market in June 2007, those who paid the $499 entry price -- and signed the two-year AT&T contract -- owned a status symbol. A year later, we have the iPhone 3G, Apple's speedier, sleeker and, most important, less expensive smart phone, which introduced a section for downloading third-party applications. Now that the phone is affordable enough for a wider audience, a new status symbol has emerged: a seemingly useless application called I Am Rich.
Its function is exactly what the name implies: to alert people that you have money in the bank. I Am Rich was available for purchase from the phone's App Store for, get this, $999.99 -- the highest amount a developer can charge through the digital retailer, said Armin Heinrich, the program's developer. Once downloaded, it doesn't do much -- a red icon sits on the iPhone home screen like any other application, with the subtext "I Am Rich." Once activated, it treats the user to a large, glowing gem (pictured above). That's about it. For a thousand dollars.
Apple apparently had some problems with I Am Rich. After initially approving it for distribution, the company has since removed it from the store. Heinrich, a German software developer, has yet to hear back from Apple concerning the removal. "I have no idea why they did it and am not aware of any violation of the rules to sell software on the App Store," Heinrich said in an e-mail with The Times today.
But Apple couldn't pull it down before curious aristocrats -- eight of them -- had purchased it. Six people from the United States, one from Germany and one from France dropped a grand for the gem in the first 24 hours it was available, Heinrich said. That's $5,600 in revenue for Heinrich and $2,400 for Apple, which collects 30% of each sale for "store upkeep."
In the e-mail, Heinrich said there seemed to be a market for the program. "I am sure a lot more people would like to buy it -- but currently can't do so," Heinrich said. "The App is a work of Art and included a 'secret mantra' -- that's all."
A possible explanation for its removal: A screen shot of an App Store review that has been circulating around the Web recently, showing a user's complaint that he purchased it accidentally. "I saw this app with a few friends and we jokingly clicked 'buy' thinking it was a joke, to see what would happen. ... THIS IS NO JOKE...DO NOT BUY THIS APP AND APPLE PLEASE REMOVE THIS FROM THE APP STORE," it read.
I Am Rich isn't the first software that has been removed from Apple's store. Box Office, a movie showtime resource, and NetShare, which let users connect a computer to the Internet using the iPhone's 3G wireless data service, disappeared without a trace. Apple did not respond to phone calls for comment.
UPDATED: In a follow-up e-mail, Heinrich said he had not yet received his $5,600 check from Apple, which has a policy of paying developers at the end of each calendar month. He's unsure how the app's removal will affect the payment process.
"I've got e-mails from customers telling me that they really love the app," adding that they had "no trouble spending the money," he said. |
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| E2EK1EL |
| quote: | Originally posted by Chris Allen
Oh ffs... |
learn dude ... learn about your be-loved phone and the company behind it. |
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| Cosmic Fur |
, that I Am Rich thing is mind-boggling. Are people really that ing stupid to pay $1000 for NOTHING??
I mean I knew iPhone buyers are retards, but this is like beyond Downs Syndrome retardedness. |
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| Dave Akermanis |
| quote: | Originally posted by Cosmic Fur
, that I Am Rich thing is mind-boggling. Are people really that ing stupid to pay $1000 for NOTHING??
I mean I knew iPhone buyers are retards, but this is like beyond Downs Syndrome retardedness. |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspicuous_consumption |
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| harcourt |
| quote: | Originally posted by Cosmic Fur
, that I Am Rich thing is mind-boggling. Are people really that ing stupid to pay $1000 for NOTHING??
I mean I knew iPhone buyers are retards, but this is like beyond Downs Syndrome retardedness. |
eBay holds the record for dumbest online purchases. |
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| harcourt |
| quote: | | According to "an informed source at Apple," however, the term "clbl" in the URL is short for Core Location Blacklist, and is not meant to block any app at a whim. Instead, says the informant, the code is intended to prevent specific apps from gaining access to location information, because these may run into privacy concerns which violate the rules of the iPhone SDK. |
LINK |
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