The fact that the iPhone
doesn't securely erase user data when you select "Erase All Content and Settings" has prompted a lot of hand-wringing (and given rise to a lot of
complicated manual workarounds) as people get ready to flip their old phones and upgrade to the iPhone 3G, but it looks like there's a simpler solution coming: AppleInsider says the iPhone 2.0 software now securely erases user data. The process is apparently similar to Leopard's Secure Erase Trash feature, and it'll unlink data and overwrite it with random bits, making your personal info impossible to recover. Of course, that'll take some extra time -- you're looking at an extra hour of progress bars in your life. That's not so bad -- and if it keeps anyone from checking out our super-embarrassing 80s pop playlists, we're all for it.
[Thanks, Mark]
posted Jun 25th 2008 4:36PM
Too bad the iphone's suck so much. Does anyone actually use these little toys?
Only about 6 million people bought them in less than a year. You're a dumbass,
Whats that flying over your head?
It....It kinda looks like sarcasm...
motions to grull27 and points to the sign which reads: Please don't feed the Trolls.
Low ranking is should be enough for them.
Low Ranking them is almost worse than feeding them.
Would be even nicer just to block their comments from showing.
@Khris
What do you think this is? Digg?
Dude, there's a difference between sarcasm and trolling. Sarcasm can be funny. Trolling is like unfunny sarcasm, without the intelligence.
@ Reid
What is it exactly that you're doing?
Hiding comments would be bad.
But making it fade (just like on the ps3fanboy.com) would be good IMO.
This thread should be epic...
Good for iPhone owners though. I'm glad they finally have this option.
Still waiting for a great phone that's as good as the iPhone when it comes to looks and UI but excels in features and comes with a decent plan and less restrictions on it.
Based on what we've seen in the past few weeks,
don't hold your breath.
What's wrong with the plan? Just the lack of an all-you-can-talk option? Even the 3G plan is cheaper than what Verizon charges for EVDO, and the airtime is cheaper as well on AT&T (plus you get rollover).
NICE. Good to know people don't have to fear anymore if they sell their iPhones
what do iphone users have to fear?, its not like they'd have 'questionable' content on their magical jesus phone (sarcasm)
That's another +1 for the 2.0 software update and iPhone 3G.
Okay, but with 2.0 will you be able to individually delete synced media from itunes?
It's not a huge deal, but it seems silly that the current software doesn't allow it.
I was told there would be nachos in here.?.?.
This is a taco and burrito discussion...
NACHOS!!
No nachos.......only Punch and Pie.
Hunch punch? Yeah I know. I'm a drunk. ;(
And not a funny one either!
o2 uk pricing for payg iphone have just been released. 8gb £299 and 16gb £359
i wonder why it has taken so long for secure deletion to become a standard option in most OS's.
Is Mobile ME going to support a secure remote wipe?
Also, does this imply that the remote wipe will take an hour to complete? or is it a non-secure quick and dirty version?
Hey, wait a minute, there's no birthday party for me here!
FAKE. I call fake.
The screenshot clearly shows full reception, 5 bars. Everyone knows that AT&T sucks a$$hole and can't deliver reception that good.
how come one has options listed as "reset network settings" above "reset keyboard dictionary", but its the other way round on the other phone?
Although arguable, your "Slow Jams" playlist is probably significantly more embarrassing than your 80s pop playlist.
Dude, that's like the best playlist I have and you know it.
Echo on the fake. It shows the time as 15:38...everyone knows clocks stop at 12.
next they are gonna tell me the date can be written as 25/6/2008
What the hell happened on the 9th of November anyway?
Halo 2 came out.
But when you're a peein there's 24 hours in a day...besides, its pretty sad if it takes you four hours to upgrade to 2.0
correction: 4 hours and 3 minutes
Why not just forgo the built in memory and allow some form of SD expansion?
Much more secure. As you know, no data is truly ever erased, unless you melt the storage device, or use volatile memory.
Because then you don't have to pay Apple a massive amount of money to upgrade. I have heard some people like that kind of thing though...
It will take an hour to erase everything? Wow!
yah, securely deleting stuff takes along time. especially since the processor isn't so hefty in these things. even with my quad core at 3.5 it still takes a good amount of time, then again i'm doin 10 passes
600-700Mhz is pretty fast for a phone and it's all flash memory. I assume your PC is running over 1TB of HDD space rather than 16GB of flash...
That sounds like a long time. It takes ~2ms to erase a block (16KB). The iphone has 8 memory chips (in 2 packages), so theoretically that could be done in a little over 2 minutes. But, they probably don't have the chips wired to erase in parallel, so one erase pass would be 18 minutes minimum. Add in overhead for the CPU (which shouldn't be much since it's only takes a couple of bytes to send the erase command), and it's still not an hour. It probably takes longer to erase a MLC chip, and my example numbers are SLC... either that, or they're writing multiple passes, which is cool.
Just wait for M$ to release the Zune Phone it will have all the iPhone features plus more...Bill Gates' wet dream last night!
Nice feature. That should reassure people about some of the security issues it's been accused of.
I do think this is fake too. look at the distance between "Erase All Content and Settings" and "Reset Network Settings" and "Reset Keyboard Dictionary".
They are the same.
Now look right behind "This will delete all media and data, and reset all settings. This will take about an hour" and you can se a water mark that says "Reset Homescreen Layout".
The distance from "Reset Keyboard Dictionary" to "Reset Homescreen Layout" is too short and does not make sense. In the 1st screen shot the distances they match, even the one behind "This will delete all media and data, All setting will be reset as well"
FAKE FAKE FAKE!!
btw...cant wait for July 11th!!!!
It's not fake. You obviously don't know anyone with the 2.0 firmware.
Actions speak louder than words. Hand this over to the security community to put it to the test.
I do think this is fake too. Look at the distance between "Erase All Content and Settings" and "Reset Network Settings" and "Reset Keyboard Dictionary". They are the same.
Now look right behind "This will delete all media and data, and reset all settings. This will take about an hour" and you can se a watermark that says "Reset Homescreen Layout". \
The distance from "Reset Keyboard Dictionary" to "Reset Homescreen Layout" is too short and does not make sense. In the 1st screenshot the distances they match, even the one behind "This will delete all media and data, All setting will be reset as well"
FAKE FAKE FAKE!!
btw...cant wait for July 11th!!!!
Now if only they would build in an easy way to clear cookies, cache, and history and other temp data.
You mean like the clear cookies, clear cache and clear history button on the current phones?
"and if it keeps anyone from checking out our super-embarrassing 80s pop playlists, we're all for it."
Not as bad as someone finding my huge Morning Musume collection.
i wonder, CAN IT ERASE MY BRAIN?!?!?
Too Late For That!
Something seems to have done so already.
This is for people who's returning an iphone, as I did with my itouch.
I had bought an itouch (I live in Canada) and it would probably led me to buying an iphone. It was cool but not enough to stay with it, so I returned it after a two weeks. So, I deleted all my info and tunes, but I didn't know the damn thing also erased all transferred tunes (stuff I ripped from my own CD) from my home computer HD. Holy shit talk about calling the kettle black...DRM galore! Later I heard about a hack that I need to burn cd to keep copies...I though using an apple product was straight forward. This is the last time I touch an Apple product...never again!
PEBKAC perhaps?
it will if you hack it
80's Pop? Rick Astley! a-ha?
It better erase the pron on mine...
If they know it takes an hour then they must have tried it themselves. Promising...
As much as I am not interested in the iPhone, this kind of enhancement actually pleases me. It's a step in the right direction in regards to privacy, regardless of what company you are. I probably will never buy the product, but Kudos to the team for making sure this was in the update.
I'll stick with Windows Mobile for now. The new Touch Diamond makes me happy.
Still no insurance available for the iPhone? Meh..
I can't believe the fanboys on this blog, if anything and I mean ANYTHING in tech took an hour to complete a task it would be flamed up and down. Nobodies' pissed that this takes and HOUR to complete?
I did earlier. But i was subtle so as not to get noticed by the Apple Macintosh mob
I have a 2g Iphone. Hopefully it will be possible to upgrade to the 2.0 firmware. That's all I really care about. I'm not one of the guys that is looking to 'flip' their phone as stated in the article.
At any rate. I'm one of the guys that have absolutely no intention of selling it and flipping it for a 3g phone.
#1) I have a plan with unlimited in/out calling grandfathered. I work on the road and before this plan was paying 250-350/month on minutes. Now I only pay 65/month with all system access fees and taxes included. No way I'm giving this plan up in order to sign a long term contract to get a new phone where I'd pay more in the long run.
#2) I only surf the 2g phone online when I'm at home and I have wifi in my house. When I'm on the road I'm either a)driving b)working c)out with friends. No reason to use the 3g capabilities on it for any reason whatsoever in all 3 of those circumstances.
#3) GPS? I have a dedicated GPS in my jeep. End of stoy. iPhone gps is totally irrelevant to me, just as my blackberry 8800's gps was.
So bottom line...enjoy your 3g phones. You'll enjoy it as much as I'll enjoy my 2g :)
Cheers
The 2.0 software was primarily announced for end of June, was'nt it? If I have unlocked my iPhone with Ziphone, will it be possible to install the 2.0 software without any troubles?
Thanks in advance for your comments.
Regards
Hobi
The 2.0 software was primarily announced for end of June, was'nt it?
If I have unlocked my iPhone with Ziphone, will it be possible to
install the 2.0 software without any troubles?
Thanks in advance for your comments.
Regards
Hobi
Apple knows it makes mistakes - yay! It just won't publicly admit to them.