Well… you
are correct.
My love of the apple product (more exactly the innovation coupled with BSD) obviously will make me impartial.
On the other side: apple’s take back and recycling program, whilst destructive, are 92-98% recovery.
Sadly most of it Does not take place in the US.
Unfortunately complete product encryption didn’t exist prior to 2017 so anything before that not upgraded or not compatible for upgrades can be hacked into with nothing more than the right tools and a few hours of work via AMD Ryzon or Core i9. Etc.
And with that access you gain keychain access. And there is your problem!
Keychain is an enterprise level security kit that holds more than just passwords and keys. It holds certificates, storage bonds, handshake tokens… etc.
Payment info, crypto keys, notes, and much much more.
Factually though, apple exploits are extremely rare. Account exploits make the news because they’re just a point above non-existence.
As far as I can tell most of apple’s security bounty payouts come with an NDA and the payouts are often much larger than reported.
So where does that leave a company that more often than not actually does put customer security first m? At least in the US, UK, and Europe?
Much like the authorised and the certified programs. I think we could use a similar system in reuse.
Should apple remote wipe phones? Maybe.
But what happens in
situations like this?
There needs to be a protective level to keep service companies from having a phone wiped a day after payment is due. Because forgetting to pay or pick up should not be the end of everything.
iCloud locking is a major roadblock to reuse. But at the same time bypassing it is a great way to invite abuse.
It’s not like an iPhone, locked or not, can only be an iPhone.
In the US an exception to the DMCA allows for bypass of security for interoperability.
There are dozens of alternative OSs you can install on a blank iPhone.
Free, legal software can simply blank a phone regardless of lockout. Install linux, ARMx, BSD, hell, there’s an unofficial port of full Darwin for the iPhone chipset.
Go looking a bit and you’ll find iPhones running Android! Windows!
The biggest use for a repurposed iPhone is home control and automation.
Take a $50 iPhone 6, blank it. Install BSD, PleX, and Open Remote.
A common reuse combo for high end home theatre installs.
Or install MultiTerm and use the phone as a master admin for a network. Home or commercial.
iPhones, older ones at least, are popular hack jobs for automation and IOT.
Despite their fragile shells: iPhones are remarkably reliable internally.
For all the choices without Apple’s involvement?
So we’re back to the beginning.
Should apple let up a bit? Sure!
They don’t need to shred the entirety of every device they accept for recycling. Which is what they currently do. Remote wiping or even hands on, could save millions of apple devices from the scrap industry and create a healthy supply of components for refurbishment.
But such practices require limits and protections which haven’t been thought out yet.