PI Newswire

Apple has applied for a patent covering an elaborate series of measures to automatically protect iPhone owners from thieves and other unauthorized users. But please withhold the applause.

The patent, titled “Systems and Methods for Identifying Unauthorized Users of an Electronic Device,” would also protect Apple against jailbreaks and other unauthorized hacks to the device, which were recently excepted from copyright enforcement.

The application, which was filed in February and published Thursday, specifically describes the identification of “hacking, jailbreaking, unlocking, or removal of a SIM card” so that measures can be taken to counter the user. Possible responses include surreptitiously activating the iPhone’s camera, geotagging the image and uploading it to a server and transmitting sensitive data to a server and then wiping it from the device.

Rest assured that this jailbreaking identification, the application would have us believe, is simply a means of protecting owners from unauthorized users.

“Access to sensitive information such as credit card information, social security numbers, banking information, home addresses, or any other delicate information can be prohibited,” the application states. “In some embodiments, the sensitive information can be erased from the electronic device. For example, the sensitive information can be erased directly after an unauthorized user is detected.”

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Law-enforcement experts say iPhone technology records a wealth of information that can be tapped more easily than BlackBerry and Android devices to help police learn where a suspect has been, what the suspect was doing there, and whether he or she has something to hide.

“These devices are people’s companions today,” Jonathan Zdziarski, author of iPhone Forensics, told the Detroit Free Press. “They’re not mobile phones anymore. They organize people’s lives, and if you’re doing something criminal, something about it is probably going to go through that phone.”

iPhones contain a wealth of information about the user’s whereabouts ranging from GPS coordinates and time stamps on photos taken by the phone to location information used by the device’s browser to custom tailor advertisements.

The iPhone also stores screenshots each time an application is closed including mapping applications and e-mails.

iPhones are more computer than phone, and either suspect of victim is likely to have left a trail easily accessible to the well-trained investigator.

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Citibank has fixed a flaw in its iPhone app that was inadvertently storing customer account data on the mobile devices, the company said on Monday.

“During a recent review, we discovered that our U.S. Citi Mobile iPhone banking app was accidentally saving information related to customer accounts in a hidden file on their iPhones,” the company said in a statement. “This information may also have been saved on their computer if they had been synchronizing their iPhone with their computer via iTunes.”

Citi has released an update to its iPhone app that corrects the problem and deletes any Citi mobile information that may have been stored on the mobile device or the customer’s computer.

Other Citi apps and services are not affected and Citi said it had no reason to believe that any customer data was compromised.

The new app was released a week ago and last Tuesday 118,000 letters were mailed to customers using the app, according to a source familiar with the matter.

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North Miami Beach police said that some of the iPhone applications that make life easier for users can also make life easier for criminals.

“If it’s a benefit to society, it can also be used against society,” said Officer Tom Carney, of the North Miami Beach Police Department.

Carney said law enforcement is struggling to keep up with the iPhone’s technology.

“Technology is usually way ahead of everything, so we usually have to play catch-up,” he said.

Local 10’s Sasha Andrade sat down with Justin Wetherille, the owner of an iPhone repair business called U Break I Fix, to find out why.

First, Wetherille talked about the Trapster and Marco Popo apps, which pinpoint police checkpoints. Wetherille said Marco Popo also tells users where red light cameras and speed traps are located.

If you tap on the caller ID faker app, you can change the way your number appears on someone else’s screen. It’s usually used for prank calls but, Wetherille said there could be other uses.

“I can see where it can come off as bad, people trying to disguise themselves as a credit card company, doing fraudulent things,” he said.

There’s also a new type of skimmer that attaches to the iPhone and can run credit cards. It’s good for small businesses. It’s also good for con artists.

“You can run someone’s card right there, right then, authorize it and charge it for as much as you want,” said Wetherille.

According to Carney, the police departments don’t have the kind of funding that Apple does.

A more advanced version of the iPhone is in stores on June 23. It is expected to be packed with even more technology. How do crime fighters fight back?

“We can’t. We just have to make people aware, and that’s what we’re here for,” said Carney.

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Canada’s privacy commissioner has repeatedly expressed concerns about Facebook’s policies and in January announced more investigations into the website’s practices.

Recently Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he thinks he’s finally found a solution to the privacy issues, and the company has made it simpler to control what you share on Facebook and choose whether to share information with everyone, friends of friends or only friends.

Problem is this new privacy setting initially sets most everyone up with an open account, and unless they change it, it stays that way.

Facebook has evolved a great deal since it was created by a group of university students in a dorm room more than six years ago.

When it hit my university in 2005, it took me a while to join (I was still haunted by the overwhelming feeling I got when too many people started talking at once on my MSN Messenger server), but I eventually caved, just like most everyone I know.

There are the few steadfast Facebook opponents who say they have no use for the thing, so, annoyingly, you actually have to call and invite them to the party instead of merely relying on your post.

But in reality, everyone knows the dangers of Facebook. You wake up the morning after a party and check your profile – there’s the proof to show just how ridiculous the night actually was.

And with iPhones and Blackberries more common than mountain bikes in Squamish, events are documented and posted before they’re even done.

“You’ve all made Facebook what it is today,” said Zuckerberg.

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Pupils in a British school have reportedly been provided iPhones to monitor the performance of their teachers.

The unnamed school in Kent insists it is a “quality assurance” programme.

Children can pass instant judgments to senior teachers on the quality of the staff.

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers are worried that the trend may catch up in other schools too.

John Rivers, a secondary school teacher, spoke on the issue at the union’s annual conference in Manchester.

“There is a school in Kent brought to my attention by members where students are using school-issued iPhones to record their feelings during lessons,” the Telegraph quoted him as saying.

He mentioned that almost 10 pupils of different ages were asked to email their comments about the quality of teaching directly to a central database.

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