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23Aug10
New iPhone Security Patent: User Protection or 1984 iSpy?
Your next iPhone might listen to your heartbeat or scan your face to identify its rightful owner -- and it could react with anti-theft measures if it ended up in the wrong hands, according to a patent recently filed by Apple.
Filed in February and made public this month, the patent describes an invention that uses several methods to detect "unauthorized" usage of a device, such as voice and facial recognition or a heart rate monitor. Possible anti-theft measures include restricting access to some applications, gathering location data about the unauthorized user or shutting down the device remotely.
One method the patent describes for detecting a stolen iPhone is checking whether it's been hacked (aka "jailbroken") or its SIM card has been yanked out -- things a clever thief would do to override the iPhone's security.
The up-close-and-personal security patent has some concerned journalists screaming "1984," interpreting the patent application as a draconian move by Apple to spy on users and punish customers who hack their iPhones.
"The system described in the patent [would] allow Apple to effectively kill jailbroken devices under the guise of protecting customers from theft, since it may not be able to determine whether a device has been stolen or if it is being willingly jailbroken by users," writes Mashable's Lauren Indvik.
"Ignoring the possibility that a false positive in Apple's proposed theft protection might activate the spy cam while the user is in the bath, or in the middle of some other intimate moment, this technology seems Orwellian for another reason: It gives Steve Jobs and Co. the means to retaliate when iPhones aren't being used in ways Cupertino doesn't expressly permit," The Register wrote over the weekend.
[Source: By Brian X. Chen at Wired.com, Reuters, 23Aug10]
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