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iPhone Doesn't Send IMEI Information to Apple
Posted by Jesus Diaz at 10:39 AM on November 20, 2007
OK, you can take your tinfoil hats off now. German site Heise Online has tested Hackint0sh user XianLi's claims about the iPhone sending its IMEI to Apple while accessing the web. According to Heise and other sources, this is not true:
While the code says "IMEI," which stands for International Mobile Equipment Identity, it seems that the actual IMEI is not transmitted. Using a sniffer, Heise says they were able to get the information that the applications are actually sending. The strings aren't the same as the test iPhone's IMEI and, in fact, each application sends its own unique code.
According to further testing by Rene at blog docpool, these IDs are identical in all iPhones he has tried. The most plausible explanation: the codes could be just application identifiers. Rumor smashed. Mystery solved. Time to get a bourbon at Big Joe's. [Docpool and Heise Online-- Thanks Wayne]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
NicleT
Posted 7:43 PM 19/11/07
Yes, great Photoshopped Austeve Powob!
NicleT
DJJS
Posted 7:26 PM 19/11/07
Ha ha nice Photoshop pic..
DJJS
Marty_MacFly
Posted 7:03 PM 19/11/07
@sparx104: "I must admit, I thought someone would have checked this before starting all the hysteria."
Not when it comes to Apple products, especially the iPhone.
Marty_MacFly
Monty
Posted 7:02 PM 19/11/07
But, wait! Clearly since they were using a tag that said IMEI, they had intended to be evil. It just happens that it is smart enough to know when you are sniffing traffic, and disguise the identifier number.
No .. Really .. Apple must be evil because ...
because ...
because we really want them to be evil!
Monty
myxylplyx
Posted 7:01 PM 19/11/07
I thought that was Dick Cheney for a second there.
myxylplyx
sparx104
Posted 7:00 PM 19/11/07
I must admit, I thought someone would have checked this before starting all the hysteria. I've often come up with acronyms whilst coding that mean something completely different in the real-world.
sparx104
jabber
Posted 6:55 PM 19/11/07
Wow, this is just like having our very own peer review like those science/medical journals.
jabber
strider_mt2k
Posted 8:46 PM 19/11/07
See?
He's with it. He's hip!
duckah duckah duckah...
strider_mt2k
Cleverboy
Posted 8:41 PM 19/11/07
Man, y'know... Jesus, your morgue must be something special.
I had a devil of a time finding the right "Steve" to get this shot...
[www.myphonewar.com]
And in the end, I went with mediocrity than admitting defeat...
Cleverboy
Cleverboy
Posted 8:29 PM 19/11/07
Like I said, it kind of helps if people actually sniff the packets instead of just spying strings in the hex code. I agree with Monty though, even tongue in cheek. The iPhone has undergone 3 updates already, and Apple engineers witnessed the iPhone literally torn apart on day one... packet sniffing was inevitable. While I would think sending the IMEI would be somewhat meaningless, I still don't think Apple is entirely out of the loop until they say they are. Again... what aspect did people find objectionable? The who or the what? 'Cause facts are facts. It's still being recorded, bubba.
Cleverboy
WilCon
Posted 8:13 PM 19/11/07
Apple is becoming the new Microsoft. The giant megalomaniacal company with a bent for world computing domination. Could be the one difference though is Apple actually makes a good product.
WilCon
Imaria
Posted 10:26 PM 19/11/07
I enjoy stupid people being wrong.
Imaria
yayaja67
Posted 9:54 PM 19/11/07
Oh the false alarm was worth it for two reasons:
1) the best photoshop image EVER
2) Hearing the fanboys whine and get desperately defensive anytime someone suggests that Apple is a regular, average corporation, and not some benevolence sub society.
yayaja67
MINI-Driver
Posted 9:29 PM 19/11/07
Oh the pathos, the drama - the much ado about nothing
MINI-Driver
hanswurst0815
Posted 6:44 AM 20/11/07
Heise has an english version that is probably better than Google's translation: [www.heise-security.co.uk]
hanswurst0815
Pack Your Tinfoil Hat Away, iPhone Now Apparently Doesn’t Phon
Posted 7:28 AM 20/11/07
Pack Your Tinfoil Hat Away, iPhone Now Apparently Doesn’t Phone Home…Well Maybe on Techcrunch
sumocat
Posted 9:09 AM 20/11/07
My "who gives a s---?" attitude pays off again, saving me the cost of a tin foil hat.
sumocat
Skyoodpov
Posted 10:15 AM 20/11/07
I wanted an iPhone before this, during this, and now after this.
Also, grats on a damn good photoshop. Someone's been practicing...
Skyoodpov
AndyDuncan
Posted 11:40 AM 20/11/07
Sheesh, was it really that hard to throw a packet sniffer on the damn thing? Thanks for the hysteria, hackint0sh douchebags.
AndyDuncan
Totorototoro
Posted 11:26 AM 20/11/07
@yayaja67:
"Oh the false alarm was worth it for two reasons:
Hearing the fanboys whine and get desperately defensive anytime someone suggests that Apple is a regular, average corporation, and not some benevolence sub society."
Not to mention hearing the Apple haters cheer and desperately seize onto this issue without bothering to check if it were true first. :p
Totorototoro
lmjabreu
Posted 11:19 AM 20/11/07
@yayaja67:
"1) the best photoshop image EVER"
second that
lmjabreu
krztov
Posted 3:37 PM 20/11/07
uh, providers have the info anyway. for instance when i worked at t-mobile if i double clicked on call someone made, itd show sim card #, imei # and the intersection the tower they connected to was located at.
krztov