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This seems to be an extremely rare situation. OP did not lock the device to their account and left it free. Someone else picked it up, wiped it, and locked it t

This seems to be an extremely rare situation. OP did not lock the device to their account and left it free. Someone else picked it up, wiped it, and locked it to their own account. That stranger could have also poured apple juice on the macbook or just not responded to the request to send it back. Once someone else has their hands on your device, there is a risk it's just gone. As a Macbook user I'm not at all concerned about this happening to me since I have find my set up and my mac has stickers on it so I can clearly identify it as mine and avoid this mixup. And I also benefit from the theft resistance features.

pests 3y ago
It's not gone though. He has it back.
- Gigachad 3y ago
  He has it back in a broken state. The person who took it rendered it inoperable before returning it. Even without activation lock there are numerous other ways if you are holding the laptop in your hand.
  - ddingus 3y ago
    Actually, it is not broken. It is working as designed. He simply does not have control of it.
    - hunter2_ 3y ago
      True, but at the same time, it's not performing the function that was advertised upon which the purchasing decision was made. A reasonable person would believe that if it wasn't subject to physical harm (impact, water, heat, excessive voltage, etc.) then it would perform the advertised functions for a certain useful life. "Anyone who briefly possesses it can destroy that function without physical harm" wasn't advertised. IANAL but I think a judge would see it this way.
      - nightfly 3y ago
        For non-Apple laptops (ie, Dell) it's also possible to effectively brick the device by setting BIOS passwords that can't be undone without replacing a chip or similarly invasive means
      - ddingus 3y ago
        One could also say the user did high risk travel without securing the device properly too. In any case, Apple can't be blamed here. Apple does not know what really happened. Here is a great example of why Apple takes the position they do: Sim card takeovers. Remember when most of tech thought tying accounts to phone numbers was a good idea? Remember the people saying that was a very bad idea? People can get their digital lives taken, or very seriously impacted just by someone knowing a phone number! The same social engineering and or permissive policy being advocated for in this laptop case gets used all the time to swap a user's sim card! Once that has been done, the attacker can do password swaps and cause all sorts of grief.
  - hnlmorg 3y ago
    The question isn’t: “what are the numerous ways someone can break someone else’s laptop if they physically have possession of it?” The question is: “how are people apologising for the fact that Apple are refusing to support individuals who are locked out of their own devices?” The question you are answering is an irrelevant hypothetical whereas question being asked is a very legitimate consumer request. It’s like dismissing a mugging by saying “it’s ok because they didn’t stab you”. Both are legitimately wrong but only one of those scenarios is being discussed.
  - pests 3y ago
    That was my point.
- itake 3y ago
  UAE is a huge purchaser of 0days and hacking tools. If they were able to add their own icloud account and were "kind" enough to send it back. I wouldn't touch it.
paulddraper 3y ago
> That stranger could have also poured apple juice on the macbook That didn't happen. > or just not responded to the request to send it back That didn't happen either.
- mike_d 3y ago
  Here is a better example: try to take the radio out of any modern car and stick it back in yourself. When power is lost it will require an activation code from the dealership. This is an anti-theft feature that consumers pay for when they buy the car. If you fail to register your purchase (harder to do with a car, but stick with me) and go to the dealership, you won't get the activation code. This is literally what happened to OP.
  - ale42 3y ago
    Except that the OP had an option _not_ to enable the activation code... which might not be the case on car radios.
  - the_gipsy 3y ago
    But nobody tells you that FindMy is necessary to register your purchase.
  - kelnos 3y ago
    I would have gladly disabled that misfeature on my old car if I could've. It was always a huge pain to find the activation code, and having to contact a dealer and jump through their hoops is a huge hassle. The funny thing is that for this particular car, removing the radio (really the full navigation head unit) would have been a major undertaking, requiring specialized tools and quite a bit of time. If a thief has that much time and expertise, losing the radio is the least of my worries.
  - paulddraper 3y ago
    The dealership will give you an activation code. It's no different than say....keys
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

pests 3y ago

It's not gone though. He has it back.

Gigachad 3y ago
He has it back in a broken state. The person who took it rendered it inoperable before returning it. Even without activation lock there are numerous other ways if you are holding the laptop in your hand.
- ddingus 3y ago
  Actually, it is not broken. It is working as designed. He simply does not have control of it.
  - hunter2_ 3y ago
    True, but at the same time, it's not performing the function that was advertised upon which the purchasing decision was made. A reasonable person would believe that if it wasn't subject to physical harm (impact, water, heat, excessive voltage, etc.) then it would perform the advertised functions for a certain useful life. "Anyone who briefly possesses it can destroy that function without physical harm" wasn't advertised. IANAL but I think a judge would see it this way.
    - nightfly 3y ago
      For non-Apple laptops (ie, Dell) it's also possible to effectively brick the device by setting BIOS passwords that can't be undone without replacing a chip or similarly invasive means
    - ddingus 3y ago
      One could also say the user did high risk travel without securing the device properly too. In any case, Apple can't be blamed here. Apple does not know what really happened. Here is a great example of why Apple takes the position they do: Sim card takeovers. Remember when most of tech thought tying accounts to phone numbers was a good idea? Remember the people saying that was a very bad idea? People can get their digital lives taken, or very seriously impacted just by someone knowing a phone number! The same social engineering and or permissive policy being advocated for in this laptop case gets used all the time to swap a user's sim card! Once that has been done, the attacker can do password swaps and cause all sorts of grief.
- hnlmorg 3y ago
  The question isn’t: “what are the numerous ways someone can break someone else’s laptop if they physically have possession of it?” The question is: “how are people apologising for the fact that Apple are refusing to support individuals who are locked out of their own devices?” The question you are answering is an irrelevant hypothetical whereas question being asked is a very legitimate consumer request. It’s like dismissing a mugging by saying “it’s ok because they didn’t stab you”. Both are legitimately wrong but only one of those scenarios is being discussed.
- pests 3y ago
  That was my point.
itake 3y ago
UAE is a huge purchaser of 0days and hacking tools. If they were able to add their own icloud account and were "kind" enough to send it back. I wouldn't touch it.

paulddraper 3y ago

> That stranger could have also poured apple juice on the macbook That didn't happen. > or just not responded to the request to send it back That didn't happen either.

mike_d 3y ago
Here is a better example: try to take the radio out of any modern car and stick it back in yourself. When power is lost it will require an activation code from the dealership. This is an anti-theft feature that consumers pay for when they buy the car. If you fail to register your purchase (harder to do with a car, but stick with me) and go to the dealership, you won't get the activation code. This is literally what happened to OP.
- ale42 3y ago
  Except that the OP had an option _not_ to enable the activation code... which might not be the case on car radios.
- the_gipsy 3y ago
  But nobody tells you that FindMy is necessary to register your purchase.
- kelnos 3y ago
  I would have gladly disabled that misfeature on my old car if I could've. It was always a huge pain to find the activation code, and having to contact a dealer and jump through their hoops is a huge hassle. The funny thing is that for this particular car, removing the radio (really the full navigation head unit) would have been a major undertaking, requiring specialized tools and quite a bit of time. If a thief has that much time and expertise, losing the radio is the least of my worries.
- paulddraper 3y ago
  The dealership will give you an activation code. It's no different than say....keys

deleted 3y ago

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