That's a pretty huge flaw. Millions if not billions of people can suddenly remotely spy on almost any other ios or mac anywhere in the world, just by knowing their email address or phone number?
Perhaps Apple should simply pull the plug on the facetime servers for now.
Is it just me, or is such a phrase applicable to Apple far too many times in the past several years? I think their engineering is losing quality or is falling behind on what they have to cover.
Just off the top of my head: I think on three separate occasions, specifically crafted text messages have made the Messages app disappear from iOS, requiring a reboot. There was a comparable MacOS login bug not too long ago.
Unless Apple decides they face significant legal exposure over the bug somehow I don't see them doing that. It would attract so much more attention that it would almost certainly not be worth it economically.
I wonder if they (executives? engineers? the company itself?) could be charged with aiding and abetting wiretapping or something now that they know it's happening and are letting their servers keep doing it.
"We must keep fighting for the kind of world we want to live in. On this #DataPrivacyDay let us all insist on action and reform for vital privacy protections. The dangers are real and the consequences are too important." - Tim Cook today in what is now a bit ironic
I think it’s inappropriate to make (or imply) a call to action in a public forum to violate the privacy of a public figure (or anyone, but a public figure in this case). There’s low probability that Tim’s personal accounts or devices are easily accessible by the public, and I assume he has a team dedicated to his personal security, but let’s not encourage folks to start scheming...
I wouldn't be surprised if Apple has their own internal iCloud network. Just like Google has their Apps for Business, Apple could have one but just inwards-facing and not hosting any other business.
This means even if you have his internal FaceTime/iMessage ID, you wouldn't be able to contact him because his account and yours exist in 2 realms.
Then again I guess he'd need an external-facing one for public VVIP to FaceTime him. Maybe he just carries 2 phones?
Perhaps Apple should simply pull the plug on the facetime servers for now.