Hector Martin

Apple is outright lying here. "the technique could be used on any number of devices" - not since the iPhone 3GS! https://www.apple.com/customer-letter/answers/ …

Apple introduced per-device firmware signing (SHSH blobs) in the iPhone 3GS to stop people from downgrading (as a jailbreaking deterrent).

@marcan42 the technique of using device-specific software to break into a phone can be used for any iphone if they write it once

@AllYourDataBase But they need to sign it for every phone, therefore its usage is still under Apple's control, just like its development.

@AllYourDataBase From a security standpoint, those two are equivalent. The dev work of neutering PIN restrictions is trivial for anyone.

@marcan42 their concerns about not controlling the code seem secondary to concerns about agencies requesting 100s of bypasses

@AllYourDataBase Sure, but then it boils down to "we used to help you, but we no longer want to do that".