Apple anti-theft system would leave thieves powerless
Nearly everyone has heard of “iPod muggings”—thieves targeting unsuspecting users on the street because of the presence of those signature white headphones that indicate there’s an expensive gadget on the other end. Of course, iPod users aren’t the only ones who have ever had gadgets stolen—everything from CD players (yes, some people still use those) to PDAs to GPS units to cell phones have been attractive targets for thieves for years now. And while there have been some attempts to dissuade thieves from stealing our things, most have been pretty easy to get around. But what if a thief knew that if he (or she) stole that iPod, it would only have one charge cycle left before it became useless?
A recently-published patent filed by Apple (and dug up by the New Scientist) could provide one such deterrent. The patent, titled “Protecting electronic devices from extended unauthorized use,” outlines a technique that would allow a particular device to authenticate itself with certain, user-approved power supplies and devices so that it can only be charged by those devices. In a lot of ways, it’s a lot like DRM, but for electronic devices.
According to the patent, when the device suspects unauthorized use, the recharging mechanism of the device itself is disabled. “Consequently, normal use and enjoyment of the device can be significantly reduced when the recharger is disabled.” Thanks, Apple. Suspected unauthorized use, however, could include any number of user-defined conditions. The owner could set a timer for the authorizations to expire, the device could be connected to an unapproved power supply, or—this one is particularly interesting—the device is being used “outside a determined geographical boundary.” Under any of those conditions, the device would be alerted that it’s being subject to suspect activity and ask the user for its preassigned security code. If authorization succeeds, then everything will continue on as expected. If not, the device won’t be rechargeable until it is authorized once again by the owner.
The patent does not discuss what happens in the event of a device reset or when a password is lost. In order to be effective, the system would need to be difficult to get around, but not so difficult that users might accidentally render their iPods useless after being a little too forgetful. There would obviously need to be some sort of back door for Apple to somehow reset the device, but we’re left to speculate about those details.
Naturally, some of us might think upon first blush that this is merely a guise for Apple and other manufacturers to lock out third-party chargers, but the patent insists that this is not so. The lawful owner of the device would be able to configure the gadget to work with any authorized devices he or she desires. Of course, that doesn’t mean that devices couldn’t just “mysteriously” not accept authorizations when hooked up to certain types of chargers.
As today’s DRM mess has proven, such a system could easily be subject to compatibility issues. If so, it would result in frustrated users who might just choose to authorize everything instead of fight with it, thus negating the point of the system in the first place. But as long as that option exists—the ability to turn it off altogether if one chooses—then the idea is kind of a cool one. Locking out unauthorized chargers wouldn’t exactly help someone get a stolen iPod back, but perhaps if enough potential thieves knew of the limitations, they wouldn’t be so eager to steal the gadgets in the first place. Maybe.
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