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> without your consent The author mentions getting consent from Apple employees on multiple occasions. If you asked me if you could install spyware on my compu

> without your consent The author mentions getting consent from Apple employees on multiple occasions. If you asked me if you could install spyware on my computer and I said "yes", then of course it would be legal.

throwawayboise 5y ago
I'm rather amazed that it's possible to install software on public computers in the Apple Store. And since it apparently is (or was), that this sort of thing was not happening daily.
- clort 5y ago
  To be clear, everybody who had the opportunity back in the day "installed software" on computers in public stores: 10 PRINT "Hello" 20 GOTO 10
- SirSourdough 5y ago
  The ease with which he was able to install the spyware on an entire store worth of computers is significantly more troubling to me than the fact that he did. I'm sure a shocking number of people input login credentials on those computers. More malicious code could do far more harm than just take a picture of your face.
yupper32 5y ago
Bull. Shit. "We got situated in the store, double checked with an employee that it was ok to shoot video" There was no consent to install software onto their computers. They just tried to find some consent loophole.
- sellyme 5y ago
  > There was no consent to install software onto their computers. Higher up in the article when the author first introduces the software, they say this line: > I just had to double check with an employee. Very vague, yes. It's entirely plausible that the author deliberately hid details in that discussion, or just unintentionally communicated it poorly. But in the absence of any evidence towards that, I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that the author is telling the truth.
  - yupper32 5y ago
    > Very vague, yes. It's entirely plausible that the author deliberately hid details in that discussion, or just unintentionally communicated it poorly. But in the absence of any evidence towards that, I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that the author is telling the truth. The author wrote a 9,401 word blog post and you think it's possible they were vague with that one aspect of the story for anything other than concealing the truth? Yeah, hard no. That, and without explicit information about this situation, it is not reasonable to think asking an apple store employee "can I install software on your computers" would get a yes.
    - sellyme 5y ago
      > The author wrote a 9,401 word blog post and you think it's possible they were vague with that one aspect of the story for anything other than concealing the truth? Yes. For starters, it's referencing a conversation that occurred a decade prior. Maybe your memory is better than mine, but I definitely can't remember anything except the absolute vaguest of details from conversations I had in 2011. > That, and [...] it is not reasonable to think asking an apple store employee "can I install software on your computers" would get a yes. I have personal experience from that era in getting distributed computing clients set up on dozens or hundreds of computers in various institutes (schools, universities, gaming cafes, etc), and it was usually a fairly frictionless process. Times have definitely changed, and I suspect it would be way harder to do that now (and outright impossible at an Apple store), but that concept isn't at all unbelievable to me.
      - yupper32 5y ago
        > Yes. For starters, it's referencing a conversation that occurred a decade prior. Maybe your memory is better than mine, but I definitely can't remember anything except the absolute vaguest of details from conversations I had in 2011. "Hey remember that time I bugged the Apple store?" "Haha yeah man, did you ever get permission to do that?" "No idea! But I did get permission to film people's reactions!" Yeah ok... This isn't something you forget. You've had law enforcement down your neck for part of it. With a Grand Jury involved. This isn't some random conversation at a party in 2011. This is you committing a crime and having the US government follow up on that crime shortly after, with probably many conversations with lawyers, etc.

throwawayboise 5y ago

I'm rather amazed that it's possible to install software on public computers in the Apple Store. And since it apparently is (or was), that this sort of thing was not happening daily.

clort 5y ago
To be clear, everybody who had the opportunity back in the day "installed software" on computers in public stores: 10 PRINT "Hello" 20 GOTO 10
SirSourdough 5y ago
The ease with which he was able to install the spyware on an entire store worth of computers is significantly more troubling to me than the fact that he did. I'm sure a shocking number of people input login credentials on those computers. More malicious code could do far more harm than just take a picture of your face.

yupper32 5y ago

Bull. Shit. "We got situated in the store, double checked with an employee that it was ok to shoot video" There was no consent to install software onto their computers. They just tried to find some consent loophole.

sellyme 5y ago
> There was no consent to install software onto their computers. Higher up in the article when the author first introduces the software, they say this line: > I just had to double check with an employee. Very vague, yes. It's entirely plausible that the author deliberately hid details in that discussion, or just unintentionally communicated it poorly. But in the absence of any evidence towards that, I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that the author is telling the truth.
- yupper32 5y ago
  > Very vague, yes. It's entirely plausible that the author deliberately hid details in that discussion, or just unintentionally communicated it poorly. But in the absence of any evidence towards that, I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that the author is telling the truth. The author wrote a 9,401 word blog post and you think it's possible they were vague with that one aspect of the story for anything other than concealing the truth? Yeah, hard no. That, and without explicit information about this situation, it is not reasonable to think asking an apple store employee "can I install software on your computers" would get a yes.
  - sellyme 5y ago
    > The author wrote a 9,401 word blog post and you think it's possible they were vague with that one aspect of the story for anything other than concealing the truth? Yes. For starters, it's referencing a conversation that occurred a decade prior. Maybe your memory is better than mine, but I definitely can't remember anything except the absolute vaguest of details from conversations I had in 2011. > That, and [...] it is not reasonable to think asking an apple store employee "can I install software on your computers" would get a yes. I have personal experience from that era in getting distributed computing clients set up on dozens or hundreds of computers in various institutes (schools, universities, gaming cafes, etc), and it was usually a fairly frictionless process. Times have definitely changed, and I suspect it would be way harder to do that now (and outright impossible at an Apple store), but that concept isn't at all unbelievable to me.
    - yupper32 5y ago
      > Yes. For starters, it's referencing a conversation that occurred a decade prior. Maybe your memory is better than mine, but I definitely can't remember anything except the absolute vaguest of details from conversations I had in 2011. "Hey remember that time I bugged the Apple store?" "Haha yeah man, did you ever get permission to do that?" "No idea! But I did get permission to film people's reactions!" Yeah ok... This isn't something you forget. You've had law enforcement down your neck for part of it. With a Grand Jury involved. This isn't some random conversation at a party in 2011. This is you committing a crime and having the US government follow up on that crime shortly after, with probably many conversations with lawyers, etc.