Long before the Library of Congress and the Copyright Office removed “jailbreaking" as an offense, Apple Inc. filed a patent related to that very topic.
The iPhone maker apparently has found ways to identify devices that have been hacked, unlocked, had SIM cards removed or “jailbroken" (the addition of unauthorized apps). And one of those ways appears to include tracking iPhone, and even iPod, users’ heartbeats.
Here’s how it all started. In February 2009, Apple filed a patent request, “Systems and Methods for Identifying Unauthorized Users of an Electronic Device," which was published last week.
The documents position the technology as one that would kill hacked or jailbroken devices, thereby protecting users’ credit card and password data. But in light of the federal government’s recent decision, the assertion falls a bit flat. For one thing, unless a subscriber called Apple, how would Apple know if a smartphone – or iPod, in this case too – actually was in the wrong hands? According to some reports, Apple would just be acting on the detection of increased levels of data usage. It would warn users via text messages and e-mails but so far there’s nothing saying Apple couldn’t go ahead and disable or kill a device.
But there could be even more to the story. Apple’s patent application discusses intrusive Big Brother measures to identify unauthorized users. Feast on this paragraph from CNET that quotes Apple’s patent:
“In some embodiments, an unauthorized user can be detected by comparing the identity of the current user to the identities of authorized users of the electronic device. For example, a photograph of the current user can be taken, a recording of the current user's voice can be recorded, the heartbeat of the current user can be recorded, or any combination of the above. The photograph, recording, or heartbeat can be compared, respectively, to a photograph, recording, or heartbeat of authorized users of the electronic device to determine whether they match. If they do not match, the current user can be detected as an unauthorized user."
Apple, you already somehow weathered AntennaGate. We’re betting shareholders and the general public really won’t go for this new doozy.
