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Ask HN: Could Apple disable all phones in Russia?

12 points by arisAlexis ↗ HN
Just thinking about the equivalent of a nuclear bomb in technology. Is it theoretically possible that their closed source includes some doom switch? I suppose it can't be can't be done with Android being open source.

Please note I am not in favor of this just curious.

11 comments

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wanderer_
> Android being open source

Well, it's not exactly like that. Things like cellular modems are almost always closed source, and those are normally integral parts of the phone itself. Then there's proprietary parts of Android itself (the kernel is open, but not necessarily all of the software surrounding it) - not to mention things like hardware blobs.

All of this to say, it could certainly happen to Androids the same way that it theoretically could happen to iPhones. But then, on top of the ethical question, there comes the question of practicality - would we really want to focus on disabling phones when things like converting cheap phones into cellular jammers would have a more direct effect on the Russian military?

Anyway, there's my $0.02...

323
They can remotely disable store apps. Maybe they can also disable system apps or specific functionality.

Maybe they can also disable the whole phone until you update it, and the update will brick it.

All of these capabilities are nice to have to be able to deal with critical security issues.

neverminder
I've been saying this for days. If Apple, Google and Microsoft remotely wiped and bricked their devices, that would cause devastation that would make all those financial sanctions look like a picnic. I mean, for crying out loud, apparently russian soldiers are using google maps for targetting, so that would also save some ukrainian lives too.
darksaints
That might be an effective way to fight Russia, but I personally would start looking for alternatives if the companies I have bought from started remotely bricking my devices.
cmurf
Are John Deer and Tesla still remote disabling cars if they've been repaired by an unapproved facility?
TheAlchemist
But do we really want to cut the Russian citizens off ? Their only source of information will be state propaganda... which barely mention what's happening - they are fed stuff like it's all defense against Nazis. We need to do the contrary actually - let them know what happens and on what side of history they want to be. I know it must be scary as fuck to stand up and protest there, but it's increasingly likely that it's the only way out.
kbelder
Don't Google and Apple also know the exact location of every Russian phone in the Ukraine? They should be able to trace the concentrated movements real-time, they do it for traffic congestion in the states.

Hmm. I wonder if that's being fed to the government. Now that I think about it, I realize it is almost certainly happening.

arisAlexis
It would be interesting to even deliver a message to the people like a notification for example alerting about the state of the war crimes or such. It's almost an act of war though.