Rather disturbing...

[RiCEADDiCTBOY]

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2009/05/appstoreeasteregg/

Only takes one jerk to mess it up and start stealing personal information in our devices...

 

[srl7741]

Yes

I saw that too:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/703872/

I'm thinking more about this book because of that article

Amazon Book


I was not sure if anyone else noticed it.

 

[TwinCities Dan]

That IS rather disturbing!

 

[RiCEADDiCTBOY]

I know its a bad habit - but, I keep accounts kept in my Notes... =/

 

[Little HZ]

The Wired articles says:

"Part of the problem may be that Apple lacks the manpower to review every app carefully, which is not surprising. The App Store has published 46,000 apps since it opened in July 2008, according to iPhone analytics company Medialets."

You'd think the way apps are selling, Apple could could hire a few more people to review apps ... ?

 

[RiCEADDiCTBOY]

The Wired articles says:

"Part of the problem may be that Apple lacks the manpower to review every app carefully, which is not surprising. The App Store has published 46,000 apps since it opened in July 2008, according to iPhone analytics company Medialets."

You'd think the way apps are selling, Apple could could hire a few more people to review apps ... ?

Well that would make LOGICAL sense...but, you know Apple..."pay for less - sell high"

 

[Jeremy1026]

All of this is why Apple has put their 'kill switch' in place. Someone finds out apps are harvesting information, bam! Kill switch and the app is no more, and no longer functional on the device. Some people will fall victim, but widespread damage can be stopped.

 

[Fe1]

All of this is why Apple has put their 'kill switch' in place. Someone finds out apps are harvesting information, bam! Kill switch and the app is no more, and no longer functional on the device. Some people will fall victim, but widespread damage can be stopped.

Oh thank God. I was reading this news on iLounge, with trepidation.

It's one thing to put an innocuous Easter egg into a game app, but even circumventing the rules to add secret profanity (really? really? Come on, are people this infantile?) and such is worrisome. It's only a matter of time before some hacker slash developer has more malicious intent.

Whenever it happens, I hope Apple returns the money to those who paid for the app, and then bans the developers for life.

 

[ipedro]

Did NetShare ever get the kill switch? It's harmless, but it goes against AT&T's policy against tethering....

I kick myself that I didn't buy NetShare every time I need WiFi, find that there are no hotspots available and I have my iPhone in my hand with an unlimited data plan. Damn!

 

[Ivan P]

Did NetShare ever get the kill switch? It's harmless, but it goes against AT&T's policy against tethering....

I kick myself that I didn't buy NetShare every time I need WiFi, find that there are no hotspots available and I have my iPhone in my hand with an unlimited data plan. Damn!

Im pretty sure Apple has not yet resorted to using the kill switch for any app, meaning those that bought NetShare can still use it.

 

[liptonlover]

Oh thank God. I was reading this news on iLounge, with trepidation.

It's one thing to put an innocuous Easter egg into a game app, but even circumventing the rules to add secret profanity (really? really? Come on, are people this infantile?) and such is worrisome. It's only a matter of time before some hacker slash developer has more malicious intent.

Whenever it happens, I hope Apple returns the money to those who paid for the app, and then bans the developers for life.

Does anyone know what the developer's actual intent was though? He publicized the story right? So he's not trying to keep it secret. It may be the sort of thing where he's breaking the rules to prove it can be done so Apple can improve. After all, it's not like he did something really big and meaningful that was worth breaking the rules for profit or anything.

 

[Fe1]

After all, it's not like he did something really big and meaningful that was worth breaking the rules for profit or anything.

You're right. All he was was immature and subversive. Much better.

 

[yg17]

Maybe if Apple didn't censor apps people would find no need for such easter eggs.

 

[sushi]

You'd think the way apps are selling, Apple could could hire a few more people to review apps ... ?

I am sure that they will be expanding their capability in this area.

I would also venture to say that Apple has been very surprised at how the App store has caught on. Additionally, a reviewer needs to be qualified and have a rather extensive skill set to review code. Doesn't happen overnight.

All of this is why Apple has put their 'kill switch' in place.

This was a smart thing for Apple to implement.

 

[Daiden]

Maybe if Apple didn't censor apps people would find no need for such easter eggs.

But malicious code in Apps would STILL be an issue.

 

[Fe1]

Maybe if Apple didn't censor apps people would find no need for such easter eggs.

The "you forced me to do it because of what you did in the first place" argument doesn't hold up in real life. Ask Mike Tyson.

 

[Phil A.]

Wirelessly posted (iPod touch 32GB: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_0 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7A312g Safari/528.16)

A more serious issue would be the app that sat behaving itself until a pre set day when it activated code to start malicious behaviour. Imagine an app that allows you to securely store passwords, PIN numbers, etc (there are several on the app store). If one of them has a trigger to send that info to a server after a preset date, apple would never pick it up in their testing.

The possibilities are endless...

 

[t0mat0]

Isn't it always a partial case of User Beware? If you go for apps from large well know, trusted companies, you're less likely to have these problems.

 

[kas23]

Isn't it always a partial case of User Beware? If you go for apps from large well know, trusted companies, you're less likely to have these problems.

I agree with you, but only about 2% of apps are made by trusted companies I heard of.

 

[RiCEADDiCTBOY]

Oh thank God. I was reading this news on iLounge, with trepidation.

It's one thing to put an innocuous Easter egg into a game app, but even circumventing the rules to add secret profanity (really? really? Come on, are people this infantile?) and such is worrisome. It's only a matter of time before some hacker slash developer has more malicious intent.

Whenever it happens, I hope Apple returns the money to those who paid for the app, and then bans the developers for life.

lol? serious man? he placed the "easter egg" so that his app could properly display the profanity in the songs that ALREADY had profanity that was in it.

it doesn't make sense for apple to sell music with profanity and disable apps that display the lyrics.

...i do believe a particular situation occurred with the recent NIN app as well right? well...apple can be lame at times.