Monday, August 11, 2008
Steve is ready to destroy your phone
I have been an advocate for open since I teared apart my first toy, just to see what was inside. I liked that, although I never found out a way to put all the parts together. Seeing inside is important, gives you confidence and, if you know your stuff, you can even improve it and show it to others (for them to improve it further: it is called open source).Now, giving the keys of my toy to the owner of the toy store and letting him destroy it if he wanted... nah, I do not think I would have liked that. Growing up, I still feel I would not give the builder of my house the key to get in and destroy it, without my permission. Even if he promised me he would give me a new one.
If you have an iPhone, you did just that. Steve Jobs today confirmed he can kill your phone if he wants. He can press the big red button in his office and destroy all you have on your device. Blow it apart (virtually), together with your emails, address books, friends, pictures of your newborn baby and/or mistress. He has the superpower.
Gee, I do not think even Microsoft got to this levels. I do not believe they can destroy a Windows installation, even if they would love it. Where are the regulators when you need them? Time to pick up your phone and call them. We are giving a one guy - although a very cool one - a bit too much power, in my personal and open-biased opinion.
Posted by Fabrizio at 14:29
5 Comments:
Jason Pollock said...
The file is a revocation list for application keys, not a kill switch for the device.
The same thing happens with SSL.
Apple has always said that if your app goes bad, they will revoke both its key and (possibly) your developer key.
That isn't to say that this is "good" or "bad", it's just the rules that Apple has set for their platform.
Comment Posted at 20:02
Jason Pollock said...
A good discussion from way back in March is here:
http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2008/03/18/iphone-20-sdk-how-signing-certificates-work/
Comment Posted at 20:04
Mordy said...
Yeah, the "reality distortion field" is apparently at work all over the place... did ya see this one yet, fab?
http://news.zdnet.com/2424-9595_22-216006.html
Comment Posted at 10:04
Hi,
Apologies for posting this as a comment - I couldn't find an email address or contact form.
This is just a quick courtesy note to let you know that your blog has been included as a Trusted Source on the new version of Cell Phone News 2.0:
http://www.cellphonenews2.com
This means that Cell Phone News 2.0 will provide a direct link to every article you write from now on, including a brief snippet to get readers interested. You can keep track of all your articles here:
http://www.cellphonenews2.com/profile.php?id=1060&cmd=submitted
Cell Phone News 2.0 gives you access to the best cell phone and mobile internet articles from across the web, as judged by other members. Also, you can use it to follow all of your favorite blogs in one place, bookmark useful articles and use the tags system to find all articles on a particular topic. The new version of the site draws from over 300 cell phone blogs and news sites.
Suggestions for new blogs to include in the Trusted Sources list are most welcome.
If you would like to link to Cell Phone News 2.0, there is a range of buttons and text links available, including a Trusted Source button, here:
http://www.cellphonenews2.com/html.php?id=links
Or, you can add a voting widget to each of your articles:
http://www.cellphonenews2.com/html.php?id=widget
The site now features an iPhone optimized version:
http://i.cellphonenews2.com
and a text-only mobile version (the voting still works!):
http://m.cellphonenews2.com
To get the most out of Cell Phone News 2.0, I strongly advise you to read the one page Quick Start User Guide which covers all the main functions.
http://www.cellphonenews2.com/html.php?id=guide
Cheers,
Anthony Butcher
Comment Posted at 09:55
Well, Windows can destroy itself after 1 year you've installed...so Bill doesn't need a remote control on this.
ciao fabrizio!
