why would thieves care about activation lock?

John Flud

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I can see how it will thwart thieves who want to steal an iPhone for personal use, as some do. but what about all the thieves who want to sell it for drugs, or whatever?

What do they care if the person they sell the phone to, doesn't work?

They rob from a victim, then sell a useless brick to another hapless victim, and the thief still walks away with money.
It's certainly a good feature that I welcome, but this still seems an issue.

Why doesn't apple program all their phones upon entering incorrect passwords to snap photos and GPS locations and send them icloud, perhaps even letting the victim secretly control the phone remotely, so that thieves can be caught. seems to me thats the only real way to stop them.
if they wind up with a useless iBrick, they'll sell it anyway, and have two victims and make money anyway. make it so every theif gets busted, and then they'd stop.

Thats my take anyway, what do you think?
 
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Just_Me_D

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I hear you, but it's not as easy as it may seem. Not only does police have to have probable cause to believe an alleged thief stole the iPhone, proof is needed beyond a reasonable doubt to prosecute. Furthermore, the alleged victim must be willing to pursue the issue. Being that many users will simply get it replaced via an insurance or other protection plan, pursuing the thief may be a waste. Still, I applaud Apple for doing its part with the added protection associated with the Find My IPhone feature in iOS 7. As for auto snapping of photos and auto GPS options, I'd assume that most people will find that to be an invasion of their privacy.
 
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abazigal

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My guess is if any potential buyers know that the iphones they are getting cannot be used, there is no incentive to want them. So if demand for stolen iphones drop, there will be fewer people stealing iphones.

Of course, this assumes the buyer knows he is trafficking in stolen property, rather than an ignorant consumer thinking that he is simply getting a good deal on a 2nd hand phone.
 

John Flud

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I would guess it would be the second option. I'm no expert in stealing, but if I was gonna sell stolen property I don't think I'd advertise that fact.

"Stolen iphone for sell at hot, hot prices, baby!" LOL!

So more than likely some hapless victim thinks he's getting a good deal on ebay or craigslist.

The thief makes money, and two people get screwed.

as for privacy concerns, I suppose apple could make it a function, the user could opt in on. That way nobody is forced into it.

as for recovery, my sister recently had her iphone stolen. She was screwed. She can't trace it, and had to just take a couple odd jobs to buy a new one.

It would have been nice if we could have traced the scumbag and put his sorry **** in jail, and got her phone back.

I think this activation lock feature is good. It will certainly detour some thieves, (particularly the ones who jack iphones for personal use) and make it harder to sell, at least in person where a potential victim who's smart enough to check, can see the phone doesn't work.

but thats about it. it won't stop the larger problem from what I can see. I hope I'm wrong (or that apple has more anti-theft features up its sleeves for this fall.

If they're relying on thieves being too honest to sell bricks well they may be in for a shock. LOL
 

GibMcFragger

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Generally anyone with a brain would try a phone before purchasing it off someone else. This makes this a useful feature.

If you purchase a used phone without playing with it first and it turns out to be a brick....you get what you deserve....
 

Fausty82

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Generally anyone with a brain would try a phone before purchasing it off someone else. This makes this a useful feature.

If you purchase a used phone without playing with it first and it turns out to be a brick....you get what you deserve....

I totally agree... caveat emptor and all... besides, as word gets around about the activation lock, more people will be aware of the risk... so it definitely will be a win for us all...
 

Dryland

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It's not meant to be a means for prosecution, but rather a deterrent. Thieves now think twice about stealing iPhones due to Find My iPhone. Now the more courageous ones will think twice if there is a possibility it can't be sold due to activation lock.

One feature I would like for them to add is making find my iPhone persist even if the phone is activation locked. Of course they can pull out the sim if its a GSM phone, but it would give more time to potentially locate the phone.
 

bamf-hacker

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A wiped, ready to use iDevice is worth a whole lot more than a locked one or one scrapped for parts.

The activation lock makes it unusable by the the thief or by whoever they are trying to sell it off to. I think it is a good thing for personal devices. I am not a fan in the enterprise though. We get phones turned in all the time and once this feature is active we wont be able to easily re-deploy devices.
 

Dryland

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I am not a fan in the enterprise though. We get phones turned in all the time and once this feature is active we wont be able to easily re-deploy devices.

I've considered this as well. I'm hoping an update to the iPhone configuration utility will allow disabling activation lock while still allowing Find My iPhone.
 

Guacho

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This would happen for a while until it is well known you wont be able to use a stolen iphone and demand will go down, but this wont stop it completly.
get ready to see " iphone for parts only" all over ebay.
 

GibMcFragger

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I wonder though, if you hooked up to iTunes in DFU and forced an OS restore, would that negate the Activation Lock due to the fact that it's not a wipe done FROM the phone?
 

Guacho

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I wonder though, if you hooked up to iTunes in DFU and forced an OS restore, would that negate the Activation Lock due to the fact that it's not a wipe done FROM the phone?

I understand you will still need to enter the icloud credentials in order to make it work...
 

Peligro911

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I understand you will still need to enter the icloud credentials in order to make it work...

I was wondering this also .. I mean I'm all for the feature but I can also see some people upgrading phones putting a old
iPhone in a drawer pull it out months later wiping it them bam need a password and they don't remember it.

It would be interesting to see if a dfu restore bypasses it because not everyone knows about dfu mode although it is easy to find out about


Sent from my iPhone 5 from a galaxy far far away (in the USA ) using Tapatalk !
 

madeinhb

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Remember just cause a phone snaps a picture doesn't prove that person stole it. He could simply say, I was trying to get the contact info to call the owner.
 

John Flud

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Thats true, but I've already heard of stories (of dumb criminals) who would take their stolen iphones and without even wiping it or anything, just start taking pictures of themselves with it, and those pics wound up on the victims icloud, helping the police to find and bust the guy. having the phone track itself and letting the victim have access to the camera, no matter what state the phone was in, would allow alot more of these criminals to be caught. and that is what will make them stop. Many criminals won't be stopped by phones being bricked by activation lock. Granted this will help curb theft, as iphones won't be as easy to sell to savvy people who check the phone, as well as thieves who want to steal an iphone for themselves, but it won't stop theft by a long shot. There will still be plenty of people buying these stolen iBricks off ebay, craigslist and through crooked black markets, and then upon seeing the phone was bricked by activation lock, will find the seller nowhere to be found, along with their money. I believe, making it almost a guarantee that you will get caught, would stop thefts. Your phone is stolen, then no matter what the thief does, when you call 911, and give the police the right info, they can track him down fast, he goes to jail, you get your phone back. enough of that and thefts would pretty much stop. Maybe this isn't feasible yet, I don't know, but its what I'd like to see. That said, I'll say again, that I very much welcome this new lockout feature in iOS 7, and think its a good step in the right direction. It will certainly reduce theft, and thats a good thing, even if I don't think it goes far enough.
 

BreakingKayfabe

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I'd rather there be a feature where if my phone is stolen, I can activate ricin to come
out of it from 'Find My iPhone' so that the person who stole it eventually dies within a
few days.
 

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