Apple has recently applied for a patent for a method to monitor and potentially disable jailbroken and
unlocked Apple products, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).
The technology is extremely invasive, almost to the extent of being "creepy" as the EFF would put it. It could have the potential to record a voice, match it against voice patterns of authorized users, take images of the surroundings, and even monitor and pattern match heartbeats. This is far more invasive than most users would approve of in their devices. The ability to monitor heartbeats is borderline disturbing.
As a result, the EFF states:
"This patented device enables Apple to secretly collect, store and potentially use sensitive biometric information about you. This is dangerous in two ways: First, it is far more than what is needed just to protect you against a lost or stolen phone. It's extremely privacy-invasive and it puts you at great risk if Apple's data on you are compromised. But it's not only the biometric data that are a concern. Second, Apple's technology includes various types of usage monitoring — also very privacy-invasive."
Apple's application has greatly introduced concerns over privacy. The EFF lists the following as "features" in the patent application:
The system can take a picture of the user's face, "without a flash, any noise, or any indication that a picture is being taken to prevent the current user from knowing he is being photographed";
The system can record the user's voice, whether or not a phone call is even being made;
The system can determine the user's unique individual heartbeat "signature";
To determine if the device has been hacked, the device can watch for "a sudden increase in memory usage of the electronic device";
The user's "Internet activity can be monitored or any communication packets that are served to the electronic device can be recorded"; and
The device can take a photograph of the surrounding location to determine where it is being used.
What makes all of this interesting is that the EFF played a large role with the U.S. Library of Congress in determining that jailbreaking of iPhones and iPods was legal. However, despite that decision, Apple clearly shows that it treats jailbreaking as being illegal.
In conclusion, here is the EFF's final paragraph in their statement, which really sums everything up:
This patent is downright creepy and invasive — certainly far more than would be needed to respond to the possible loss of a phone. Spyware, and its new cousin traitorware, will hurt customers and companies alike — Apple should shelve this idea before it backfires on both it and its customers
Apple, this is a bad and invasive idea.
