Interesting People mailing list archives

is restricted cell net access acceptable?


From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2007 14:18:53 -0400



Begin forwarded message:

From: "David P. Reed" <dpreed () reed com>
Date: July 5, 2007 11:51:01 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Cc: ip () v2 listbox com
Subject: Re: [IP] Re: is restricted cell net access acceptable?

Not that it matters, but I suspect you don't legally own the data you enter or access through the iPhone interface. Whitacre's claim to own anything done on "his network" is still the modus operandi of ATT, and your ISP clearly has been joining in with the US govt to claim that any data on servers (including saved email) is not yours exclusively.

So it's pretty easy to construct the legal argument that the iPhone is not your space for private data. It's at best a locker you license (read "rent") from Apple at their pleasure.

But who cares? You don't own the right not to watch commercials either. Or the right to vote for a candidate who is not brought to you by a consortium of corporate interests just as your beloved free over the air TV is brought to you by their corporate sponsors.

Privacy - get over it.

David Farber wrote:


Begin forwarded message:

From: bts () evenmere org (Brian T. Sniffen)
Date: July 5, 2007 12:19:35 AM EDT
To: christian () kuhtz com, dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] is restricted cell net access acceptable?


Isn't [Web app] access public enough for a mobile terminal where
operators interests do matter, although perhaps not as much as
operators constrain it to today?

It restricts one critical component: the iPhone cannot keep a secret. I don't mean that your data isn't safe---I'm sure Apple's put significant
effort into keeping secrets in their native apps, and that the SSL/TLS
code is well done.  I mean that the web apps I can write for an iPhone
cannot behave as principals in cryptographic protocols.  I can't write
an SSH client, for example, or a protocol for any instant messaging
system whatsoever.  The only way to do such is to run the interesting
protocol client remotely, and provide a web interface to access from the
iPhone.  That unnecessarily involves a third party.

As you say, the iPhone is a mobile network terminal---but its
capabilities as a peer on that network have been crippled.

I also cannot write an editor or viewer for locally stored data--- that's a problem related to secret keeping and to the origin-only restrictions
on JavaScript.

-Brian



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