6 ms·

Apple has the serial number from the original sale and can confirm he is the guy who bought it...

fastball 3y ago
But maybe this guy sold his computer to someone else and then stole it back, or something else crazy. The point is that having an ironclad policy in this case is a feature for most users, not a bug.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
ddingus 3y ago
Any number of things could have happened. Fact is, he let someone else take control of the machine. Apple really should explain this to people. It is a scenario nobody wants to be in.
threeseed 3y ago
No they don't. Many Apple products are bought from third party resellers who don't capture this information.
- jchw 3y ago
  We don't have to guess where it was purchased. It was purchased from the Apple Store, the article spells this out.
thundermuffin 3y ago
Maybe I'm misunderstanding your comment, but I'm reading it as saying if I can show I bought it at one point in time, then nothing else should matter, and they should unlock it for me. But I believe I must be missing something, because that proof of purchase doesn't necessarily prove it's my laptop after it's been locked by someone else's iCloud account. For instance, I've given family my old laptops, and they setup their accounts after they take ownership of the device. The way I interpret your comment with regards to my scenario is that Apple should disregard the fact it is locked to their iCloud account and unlock it for me, because I can prove I was the original purchaser - even if they accidentally left it at my home or I steal it from their home. Is that what you meant, that if I can give Apple a receipt then I am the de facto owner no matter what? Or am I just way off base?
- cobertos 3y ago
  But doesn't Apple explicitly disavow secondary sales? No way would they unlock a device like this for your relative. It's odd that they won't unlock it even for the original owner. In what cases do they even plan to unlock these devices?
  - exitb 3y ago
    > But doesn't Apple explicitly disavow secondary sales? On the contrary, they even have a page explaining how to prepare the device for ownership transfer: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201065 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201065
  - kaba0 3y ago
    > But doesn't Apple explicitly disavow secondary sales? How would or could they? Apple devices have the biggest second-hand market.
    - cobertos 3y ago
      They can't prevent it, but they can certainly disavow it. By explicitly saying they don't support it or by making it harder to sell to the next person like region-locked or console-locked media. I guess I'm surprised they don't! As the other commenter points out they have a page dedicated to this. I conflated their stance on secondary sales with their hardware and software self-service hostility.
      - ddingus 3y ago
        Doing that is illegal in the US. Right of first sale applies here.
  - ddingus 3y ago
    They can't really do that in the US at least. Right of first sale doctrine applies.
- swagempire 3y ago
thatfrenchguy 3y ago
Zero mention of serial number in the entire article though…

But maybe this guy sold his computer to someone else and then stole it back, or something else crazy. The point is that having an ironclad policy in this case is a feature for most users, not a bug.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

ddingus 3y ago

Any number of things could have happened. Fact is, he let someone else take control of the machine. Apple really should explain this to people. It is a scenario nobody wants to be in.

threeseed 3y ago

No they don't. Many Apple products are bought from third party resellers who don't capture this information.

jchw 3y ago
We don't have to guess where it was purchased. It was purchased from the Apple Store, the article spells this out.

thundermuffin 3y ago

Maybe I'm misunderstanding your comment, but I'm reading it as saying if I can show I bought it at one point in time, then nothing else should matter, and they should unlock it for me. But I believe I must be missing something, because that proof of purchase doesn't necessarily prove it's my laptop after it's been locked by someone else's iCloud account. For instance, I've given family my old laptops, and they setup their accounts after they take ownership of the device. The way I interpret your comment with regards to my scenario is that Apple should disregard the fact it is locked to their iCloud account and unlock it for me, because I can prove I was the original purchaser - even if they accidentally left it at my home or I steal it from their home. Is that what you meant, that if I can give Apple a receipt then I am the de facto owner no matter what? Or am I just way off base?

cobertos 3y ago
But doesn't Apple explicitly disavow secondary sales? No way would they unlock a device like this for your relative. It's odd that they won't unlock it even for the original owner. In what cases do they even plan to unlock these devices?
- exitb 3y ago
  > But doesn't Apple explicitly disavow secondary sales? On the contrary, they even have a page explaining how to prepare the device for ownership transfer: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201065 https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201065
- kaba0 3y ago
  > But doesn't Apple explicitly disavow secondary sales? How would or could they? Apple devices have the biggest second-hand market.
  - cobertos 3y ago
    They can't prevent it, but they can certainly disavow it. By explicitly saying they don't support it or by making it harder to sell to the next person like region-locked or console-locked media. I guess I'm surprised they don't! As the other commenter points out they have a page dedicated to this. I conflated their stance on secondary sales with their hardware and software self-service hostility.
    - ddingus 3y ago
      Doing that is illegal in the US. Right of first sale applies here.
- ddingus 3y ago
  They can't really do that in the US at least. Right of first sale doctrine applies.
swagempire 3y ago

thatfrenchguy 3y ago

Zero mention of serial number in the entire article though…