Apple anti-theft system

Nearly everyone has heard of "iPod muggings"—thieves targeting unsuspecting users on the street because of the presence of those signature white headphones that indicate there's an expensive gadget on the other end. Of course, iPod users aren't the only ones who have ever had gadgets stolen—everything from CD players (yes, some people still use those) to PDAs to GPS units to cell phones have been attractive targets for thieves for years now. And while there have been some attempts to dissuade thieves from stealing our things, most have been pretty easy to get around. But what if a thief knew that if he (or she) stole that iPod, it would only have one charge cycle left before it became useless?

A recently-published patent filed by Apple (and dug up by the New Scientist) could provide one such deterrent. The patent, titled "Protecting electronic devices from extended unauthorized use," outlines a technique that would allow a particular device to authenticate itself with certain, user-approved power supplies and devices so that it can only be charged by those devices. In a lot of ways, it's a lot like DRM, but for electronic devices.

According to the patent, when the device suspects unauthorized use, the recharging mechanism of the device itself is disabled. "Consequently, normal use and enjoyment of the device can be significantly reduced when the recharger is disabled." Thanks, Apple. Suspected unauthorized use, however, could include any number of user-defined conditions. The owner could set a timer for the authorizations to expire, the device could be connected to an unapproved power supply, or—this one is particularly interesting—the device is being used "outside a determined geographical boundary." Under any of those conditions, the device would be alerted that it's being subject to suspect activity and ask the user for its preassigned security code. If authorization succeeds, then everything will continue on as expected. If not, the device won't be rechargeable until it is authorized once again by the owner.

The patent does not discuss what happens in the event of a device reset or when a password is lost. In order to be effective, the system would need to be difficult to get around, but not so difficult that users might accidentally render their iPods useless after being a little too forgetful. There would obviously need to be some sort of back door for Apple to somehow reset the device, but we're left to speculate about those details.

Naturally, some of us might think upon first blush that this is merely a guise for Apple and other manufacturers to lock out third-party chargers, but the patent insists that this is not so. The lawful owner of the device would be able to configure the gadget to work with any authorized devices he or she desires. Of course, that doesn't mean that devices couldn't just "mysteriously" not accept authorizations when hooked up to certain types of chargers.

As today's DRM mess has proven, such a system could easily be subject to compatibility issues. If so, it would result in frustrated users who might just choose to authorize everything instead of fight with it, thus negating the point of the system in the first place. But as long as that option exists—the ability to turn it off altogether if one chooses—then the idea is kind of a cool one. Locking out unauthorized chargers wouldn't exactly help someone get a stolen iPod back, but perhaps if enough potential thieves knew of the limitations, they wouldn't be so eager to steal the gadgets in the first place. Maybe.

Future plans for WiFi on Zune and iPod

On the Microsoft side, the patent takes the Zune's currently-limited music-sharing capabilities a step further and offers more options to Zune users looking to participate in "the social." Microsoft is taking the commerce-driven approach to music sharing with this patent, believing that there is an entire "offline economy" that could benefit both the copyright holder and the user when Zune users squirt music to one another. Under the system described by the patent, users would be able to essentially purchase copies of songs off of other users without the involvement of a Microsoft media server at all. The original sharer's device would store the purchase information until the next time he or she syncs up with a computer, for example, and proceeds from the sale would go to both the copyright holder, with a (presumably small) cut the person who squirted the music.

This would offer a huge incentive for Zune users to start walking around, squirting music to everybody in sight. And according to the patent, the sale system would even "work" in the case of sharing pirated music, which would allow the copyright owner to still recoup the costs of his or her music being shared.

Music labels shouldn't worry just yet, though, as the patent describes at least one implementation that would involve the attachment of an advertisement to the pirated content. How the device will be able to tell the difference between truly pirated content and files ripped from the user's home collection of CDs, however, is very unclear. Such a system looking that carefully into the content on the device could also raise privacy concerns.

Apple's patent describes a wireless sharing system oddly similar to that already built into the Zune. Under the patent, a device with wireless capabilities, such as the iPhone or future iterations of the iPod, would be able to wirelessly detect similar devices on the same network. These similar devices do not have to be other iPods, either, as Apple specifies that it could be a media player, PDA, or some other type of wireless device. The users would be able to share various types of data, which naturally includes music and other media files, but also entire albums, photos, computer games, audio/video presentations, news reports, and more. The media could be transferred to the second device either by full transfer (making a copy of the file on the new device) or by streaming.

Apple's patent also addresses part of the system that would allow the user to purchase media from a server directly from the device. The user could either purchase something on the spot or mark it for purchase later (like when he or she gets home to sync with a computer, for example). It could even involve a "shopping list," which would function as a sort of wish list that can be synced with multiple devices and computers. For those of us who have been looking forward to buying directly from iTunes on our iPods or iPhones, the patent sounds very promising.

Apple's patent is a curious one, as it seems to directly overlap some of the Zune's functionality. Apple's patent cites several other patents ranging from media sharing to wireless communications to media players, with application dates falling as early as 2003. Companies are obligated to search for prior art before filing patent applications, and so this could be a case where Apple's patent differs enough from Microsoft's that there is no technical overlap. Another possibility is that a patent examiner will determine that Apple's filing is too similar to Microsoft's and therefore will have to pay to license the content from Microsoft, like it does with Creative over the iPod UI. Similarly, under the first-to-invent system used in US patent filings, Apple may be end up controlling the IP used in the Zune.

GPL 3 officially released

After four drafts, broad discussion, and extensive public review, the FSF has finally published the official, much-anticipated GPL revision 3 (GPL 3). The new version aims to clarify aspects of the previous version, strengthen unencumbered redistribution by imposing new patent licensing requirements, and protect the user's right to modify GPL software on embedded systems.

The GPL is the most popular open-source software license, and it is used by many high-profile open-source software projects, including the Linux kernel. Unlike proprietary software licenses, the GPL explicitly guarantees users the right to modify, repurpose, and redistribute software. "Since we founded the free software movement, over 23 years ago, the free software community has developed thousands of useful programs that respect the user's freedom," says FSF president Richard Stallman in a statement. "Most of these programs use the GNU GPL to guarantee every user the freedom to run, study, adapt, improve, and redistribute the program."

Many contentious issues addressed in the GPL 3 caused controversy and debate throughout the draft process. An unexpected patent agreement between Microsoft and Novell compelled the FSF to revise the patent licensing language in a late GPL 3 draft in an effort to block similar deals in the future.

Despite the controversy and debate, the highly transparent draft process has ensured that the GPL 3 is the product of broad consensus. "By hearing from so many different groups in a public drafting process, we have been able to write a license that successfully addresses a broad spectrum of concerns," says FSF executive director Peter Brown in a statement. "But even more importantly, these different groups have had an opportunity to find common ground on important issues facing the free software community today, such as patents, tivoization, and Treacherous Computing."

Now that the GPL 3 has been released, it is likely that it will be broadly adopted within the open-source software community. Although Linux kernel creator Linus Torvalds initially rejected the possibility of migrating the kernel from the GPL 2 to the GPL 3, the developer has recently stated that the possibility is once again under consideration.