On Thu, May 5, 2016 at 2:45 PM, Ron Garret <r...@flownet.com> wrote: > > On May 5, 2016, at 11:13 AM, Kevin <kevinsisco61...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> One can never be to secure! > > Actually, I learned the hard way last week that this is not true. > > Four years ago I bought a 2010 MacBook air from a private party (i.e. I’ve > owned it for four years, and it was two years old when I bought it). I did a > clean install of OS X, and used the machine with no problems for the next > four years. > > Last week, someone apparently put an iCloud lock on the machine. It turns > out that wiping the hard drive does not remove the machine’s iCloud binding. > If the machine has been associated with an iCloud account at any time in its > history, only the owner of the associated account (or Apple) can remove that > binding. And Apple will only do it if you can produce a proof-of-purchase, > which for them is a receipt from an authorized reseller. The iCloud lock is > implemented in EFI firmware, so not even replacing the internal drive will > remove it. > > It gets worse: Apple refuses to contact the owner of the iCloud account that > placed the lock. The lock message provides no information (it simply says, > “Machine locked pending investigation.”) So even if the machine I bought was > stolen (I have a lot of evidence that it wasn’t, but no proof) I can’t return > it to its rightful owner because I have no idea who it is. Apple knows, but > they won’t tell me (which is understandable) nor will they contact that > person on my behalf (which is not). They also don’t provide any way of > checking whether a Mac has an existing iCloud binding. (They provide this > service for mobile devices, but not for Macs.) The only way to tell is to > take the machine into an Apple store and have them check it. >
Drag them into court... Let them spend $25,000 attempting to defend their position. It will cost you about $50.00 to file it. Money is the only thing corporations care about. Hit back where it hurts. Jeff _______________________________________________ cryptography mailing list cryptography@randombit.net http://lists.randombit.net/mailman/listinfo/cryptography
