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0 pointsjshevek11y ago0 comments

Maybe I don't understand the problem, but it seems to me that it would be very simple for apple to prevent the popup messages at their discretion, since they write and control the software that causes the popup to happen in the first place.

0 comments

eridius11y ago

They would have to update the OS on the device first. And that's definitely not something that can be done silently.

I'm assuming here that the OS already doesn't have the ability to suppress the popup, and I think that's a safe assumption because Apple doesn't want to have this ability.

pilif11y ago

>They would have to update the OS on the device first. And that's definitely not something that can be done silently.

how do we know that the iMessage protocol doesn't already have support for a "silent" flag, which, if set, will not cause the message to appear?

eridius11y ago

I already answered that in the second sentence of my comment.

ObviousScience11y ago

> And that's definitely not something that can be done silently.

Can you link me to a technical analysis about this?

It would be one of the few phones where the baseband/SIM couldn't make changes to the system.

eridius11y ago

iMessage has nothing at all to do with the baseband or SIM. And carriers definitely can't push updates to the OS. Only Apple has the technical capability to produce updates to the OS, if for no other reason than the fact that all OS code must be codesigned with Apple's certificate, and only Apple has the keys. But since the baseband can't update the OS anyway, that's a moot point.

I don't have a link for a technical analysis of this, but I shouldn't need one. It should be self-evident that updating the OS is a process that is very obvious to the user. It's also something that Apple has never done without explicit action by the user to perform such an update. It would in fact be incredibly dangerous to update the OS without explicit action, if for no other reason than the fact that this would not give the user the chance to back up their phone in case something goes wrong.

1 more reply

spike02111y ago

Couldn't the change simply be included in one of the regular .x updates? They don't need to mention it in the changelog. It's not something significant enough that people would really notice.

I don't think Apple would want that capability either, but just for argument's sake.

eridius11y ago

They could, but that's not something that law enforcement can just ask them to do on the fly.

shawnz11y ago

> that's definitely not something that can be done silently.

I hate to sound so paranoid, but what reason do you have to believe this?

eridius11y ago

That the OS can't be silently updated? Many years of experience working with Apple platforms, and iOS in particular.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

eridius11y ago

They would have to update the OS on the device first. And that's definitely not something that can be done silently.

I'm assuming here that the OS already doesn't have the ability to suppress the popup, and I think that's a safe assumption because Apple doesn't want to have this ability.

pilif11y ago

>They would have to update the OS on the device first. And that's definitely not something that can be done silently.

how do we know that the iMessage protocol doesn't already have support for a "silent" flag, which, if set, will not cause the message to appear?

eridius11y ago

I already answered that in the second sentence of my comment.

ObviousScience11y ago

> And that's definitely not something that can be done silently.

Can you link me to a technical analysis about this?

It would be one of the few phones where the baseband/SIM couldn't make changes to the system.

eridius11y ago

1 more reply

spike02111y ago

Couldn't the change simply be included in one of the regular .x updates? They don't need to mention it in the changelog. It's not something significant enough that people would really notice.

I don't think Apple would want that capability either, but just for argument's sake.

eridius11y ago

They could, but that's not something that law enforcement can just ask them to do on the fly.

shawnz11y ago

> that's definitely not something that can be done silently.

I hate to sound so paranoid, but what reason do you have to believe this?

eridius11y ago

That the OS can't be silently updated? Many years of experience working with Apple platforms, and iOS in particular.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse