5 ms·
It's a realistic point though. Illegal industrial espionage definitely happens and with the resources of a huge multinational corporation it becomes easier to c
by gh02t 9y ago
It's a realistic point though. Illegal industrial espionage definitely happens and with the resources of a huge multinational corporation it becomes easier to conceal behind a wall of secrecy and misdirection. I doubt Apple would do it, but it also wouldn't surprise me and they definitely could.
All they have to do is discretely obtain the device in question and have a few good engineers quietly pick it apart for a few weeks to figure out how it works. They then patch the vulnerability in a regular update claiming they discovered it as part of normal procedure and nobody takes notice.
Edit: the legality of the device itself is kinda interesting to me. Like, even if it is doing something illegal (like using stolen code or something), how would Apple prove it as long as it was only sold to law enforcement? If the police aren't asking too many questions and Apple can't legally acquire one, how do they prove it? I suppose they'd have to gather enough circumstantial evidence to get a judge to issue a subpoena, but things get a bit dark and fuzzy.
- robin_reala 9y agoIs this not automatically illegal under the DMCA? Well, assuming the company in question is based in the US.
- matthewmacleod 9y agoThe DMCA specifically criminalises the circumvention of copyright protection methods, not all access controls.
- robin_reala 9y agoI’m not a lawyer, but quoting from the Wikipedia article the DMCA “also criminalizes the act of circumventing an access control, whether or not there is actual infringement of copyright itself.” You could argue that you hold copyright on for example a photo you’ve taken, and the passcode is the access control method.
- matthewmacleod 9y agoI’m also not a lawyer, but I have no reason to believe that would be an arguable case; the fact that an access control method incidentally makes gaining access to copyright materials harder doesn’t make it a copyright protection method.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- corrideat 9y agoNot a lawyer, but copyright protections methods may be implemented as an access control system. For example, I could sell content to iPhone users under the assumption that third parties won't be able to copy or access said content. More to the point, things like Apple Music, the App Store or the iTunes Store all could be argued to rely on the access control mechanisms as part of the DRM system.