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In a world where Apple is pushing on-device CSAM scanning and serial number locking cameras to motherboards, it's nice to see that some of their products still

In a world where Apple is pushing on-device CSAM scanning and serial number locking cameras to motherboards, it's nice to see that some of their products still respect users' rights. Now if only we could get an iPhone Pro with this kind of respect for right to repair.

sneak 5y ago
You can't wipe the drives on these machines fully and make them functional again without an internet connection back to Apple. Even the Monterey installer doesn't work offline at present, even the full 12GB one, or even a usb one made with createinstallmedia --downloadassets. You must transmit your serial number to the mothership.
- marcan_42 5y ago
  On the flip side, these machines are unbrickable, which pretty much no PC is. If you wipe a PC "fully" (BIOS and all) it's dead. That's why you need to call the mothership to fully DFU reinstall one of these Macs - it literally goes and downloads things like factory calibration info from their database. You can in principle do offline OS installs on these Macs in reduced security mode. I did it once with Big Sur. If that doesn't work with Monterey, that's a bug that should be reported and fixed. Full security mode requires phoning home, as part of their security model (this is so they can stop allowing installs of old, vulnerable OSes, which could be used as an attack vector on someone else's machine). You need to make sure you install from 1TR if you want to do a reduced security install; again, this is part of their security model, to ensure you've asserted physical presence.
  - Wowfunhappy 5y ago
    > again, this is part of their security model, to ensure you've asserted physical presence. And again, it's totally optional, because "reduced" and "permissive" security mode exist. (Yes, you said that, but I feel it should be re-iterated because it's important! The user is in control here!)
    - marcan_42 5y ago
      To get into those modes you need to be in 1TR which means you need to assert physical presence (hold down the power button to boot); that's what I meant :) The user is in control, they just need to prove they're physically at the machine.

sneak 5y ago

You can't wipe the drives on these machines fully and make them functional again without an internet connection back to Apple. Even the Monterey installer doesn't work offline at present, even the full 12GB one, or even a usb one made with createinstallmedia --downloadassets. You must transmit your serial number to the mothership.

marcan_42 5y ago
On the flip side, these machines are unbrickable, which pretty much no PC is. If you wipe a PC "fully" (BIOS and all) it's dead. That's why you need to call the mothership to fully DFU reinstall one of these Macs - it literally goes and downloads things like factory calibration info from their database. You can in principle do offline OS installs on these Macs in reduced security mode. I did it once with Big Sur. If that doesn't work with Monterey, that's a bug that should be reported and fixed. Full security mode requires phoning home, as part of their security model (this is so they can stop allowing installs of old, vulnerable OSes, which could be used as an attack vector on someone else's machine). You need to make sure you install from 1TR if you want to do a reduced security install; again, this is part of their security model, to ensure you've asserted physical presence.
- Wowfunhappy 5y ago
  > again, this is part of their security model, to ensure you've asserted physical presence. And again, it's totally optional, because "reduced" and "permissive" security mode exist. (Yes, you said that, but I feel it should be re-iterated because it's important! The user is in control here!)
  - marcan_42 5y ago
    To get into those modes you need to be in 1TR which means you need to assert physical presence (hold down the power button to boot); that's what I meant :) The user is in control, they just need to prove they're physically at the machine.