On Nov 23, 2016, at 08:52, Lee Larson <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> On Nov 23, 2016, at 7:52 AM, Bill Rising <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
>> The Consumerist had an article pointing out how easy it is to unlock phones 
>> [1]. This could be a good thing for me because I travel out of the country 
>> for work, and it would be nice to drop a replacement SIM card in my phone 
>> instead of paying highway-robbery prices for even minimal out-of-country 
>> roaming packages. 
>> 
>> Here's the question: I was under the impression that unlocking an iPhone 
>> would make it less secure, and one of the reasons that I'd rather have an 
>> iPhone than an Android device is because of the security.
>> 
>> Is this true? Is unlocking an iPhone a bad idea? I have a hard time 
>> separating the wheat from the chaff [2] when reading online; others here 
>> might have more knowledge.
> 
> I think it depends on what you mean by unlocking. There are three terms here 
> that some people get confused and this leads to false junk on the Web.

Ahh... that's my confusion, also. I was mixing up 'unlocking' (as in unbinding 
from a carrier) with 'jailbreaking'.

> 
> When I hear about unlocking a phone, I think of removing the restrictions 
> that tie it to a particular carrier like AT&T or T-Mobile. This can be done 
> to any phone that’s fulfilled the contractual stuff with which a carrier has 
> burdened the account. I do not see how this would make the phone much less 
> secure and I’ve never seen it even being speculated. Have you seen anything 
> saying otherwise?

No, but I was sloppy in my reading, because I was treating the term as the same 
as 'jailbreaking'. 

Now I understand.

Thanks,

Bill

> 
> Unlocking in the sense of opening it with your fingerprint or password is a 
> security thing. If someone is able to get around the fingerprint or password, 
> they can do pretty much anything they want with your phone. That’s what the 
> FBI wants to do with phones and they’re making a big stink about how hard it 
> is and how they have some sort of God-given right to root around in our 
> personal information. That’s why I have a long and weird password for my 
> phone.
> 
> I’ve heard jailbreaking called unlocking. This is when the security built 
> into iOS is purposely broken so non-Apple-blessed software from anywhere can 
> be installed on the phone. Jailbreaking is definitely a security problem. By 
> its very nature it has to break all sorts of security features.
> 
> Happy TG,
> 
> L^2
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> MacGroup mailing list
> Posting address: [email protected]
> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/>
> Answers to questions: <http://erdos.math.louisville.edu/macgroup/>

Attachment: smime.p7s
Description: S/MIME cryptographic signature

_______________________________________________
MacGroup mailing list
Posting address: [email protected]
Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/>
Answers to questions: <http://erdos.math.louisville.edu/macgroup/>

Reply via email to