4 ms·

No inheritance doesn't compel Apple to unlock that inherited property. Imagine it like a safe. You might inherit a safe but there is no obligation on the manufa

No inheritance doesn't compel Apple to unlock that inherited property. Imagine it like a safe. You might inherit a safe but there is no obligation on the manufacturer to help you unlock it.

mudiaga 8y ago
but what good is a safe without a key. esp when the only way to open it is through the manufacturer
- hartator 8y ago
  To push the analogy, if you need a code to open your safe, but forgot to put the code in your will, is the manufacturer required to provide you a master key?
  - mudiaga 8y ago
    oh well yea, you've got a point there.
- pbhjpbhj 8y ago
  The deceased is expecting to make the necessary preparations before dying. Facebook has a system to let a user allow trusted user to takeover access, or let a user allow a group of friends to agree to takeover access; which both seem good methods of handling inheritance of account data.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
minitoar 8y ago
I think a more appropriate analogy is that this is like a safe deposit box. You lost the key. The bank is obligated to help you out, even if for a fee to drill the lock.
- Crontab 8y ago
  The iCloud backup would be the analogy to a safe deposit box - as it is housed by Apple itself.
- userbinator 8y ago
  Where the analogy breaks down is the level of difficulty --- even the strongest safe in the world is crackable given enough resources, and we know how to do it very well. Good encryption is impossible to break within the lifetime of the known universe. I say this as someone who has sadly had to explain to others a few times, that recovering encrypted files is nothing as easy as "busting it open" in the physical world. This is incidentally why governments are scared of encryption, but IMHO users should be too --- it is very, very strong technology. Encrypting data with a suitably secure algorithm and losing the key means it is truly gone forever. You have to weigh that risk against the risk of someone else getting access to the data.

No inheritance doesn't compel Apple to unlock that inherited property. Imagine it like a safe. You might inherit a safe but there is no obligation on the manufacturer to help you unlock it.

mudiaga 8y ago

but what good is a safe without a key. esp when the only way to open it is through the manufacturer

hartator 8y ago
To push the analogy, if you need a code to open your safe, but forgot to put the code in your will, is the manufacturer required to provide you a master key?
- mudiaga 8y ago
  oh well yea, you've got a point there.
pbhjpbhj 8y ago
The deceased is expecting to make the necessary preparations before dying. Facebook has a system to let a user allow trusted user to takeover access, or let a user allow a group of friends to agree to takeover access; which both seem good methods of handling inheritance of account data.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

minitoar 8y ago

I think a more appropriate analogy is that this is like a safe deposit box. You lost the key. The bank is obligated to help you out, even if for a fee to drill the lock.

Crontab 8y ago
The iCloud backup would be the analogy to a safe deposit box - as it is housed by Apple itself.
userbinator 8y ago
Where the analogy breaks down is the level of difficulty --- even the strongest safe in the world is crackable given enough resources, and we know how to do it very well. Good encryption is impossible to break within the lifetime of the known universe. I say this as someone who has sadly had to explain to others a few times, that recovering encrypted files is nothing as easy as "busting it open" in the physical world. This is incidentally why governments are scared of encryption, but IMHO users should be too --- it is very, very strong technology. Encrypting data with a suitably secure algorithm and losing the key means it is truly gone forever. You have to weigh that risk against the risk of someone else getting access to the data.