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I don't get it either. A black box that prevents you from running your own code on it = bad. A black box that encrypts your data and keeps it away from the evil gubbermint (let's be clear here, that _is_ what the community is saying) = good ? It's confusing.

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> I don't get it either.

You may be missing it, yes.

As I understand it, the issue is not about software, but about the security keys. It isn't about some code being written, but about signing that code with the root certificate of all iOS devices.

Nobody is celebrating their closed-source codebase as a paragon of security. If Apple used open source code, sure the FBI could pay a third party to write the code, but Apple would still be right to refuse to sign it.

[edit: softened tone]

The iPhone has never prevented you from running your own code on it. It shipped with a javascript SDK and then within the year they opened it up to objective-c programs. They charge you $99 a year for the certificate signing service, but it's really no big deal... if you can afford an iPhone you can afford $99 a year. (Hell, I think these days you don't even need to be a paid developer, the free developers can run their code on their phones.)

You no longer need to pay $99 to run code on your phone. You pay only if you want to distribute it through AppStore.

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