Edit: Another comment chain noted that the OP says the Apple ID was locked as well. It's possible they did know the account's password, but it looks like certain situations may require one to perform account recovery to unlock an account[1].
> My daughter knows her account name. She knows her password. She did not forget either one.
Which sounds like a good reason not to password protect the device.
I do feel bad for them, but it's kind of a confluence of a lot of different mistakes that led to this point.
There are a large number of hurdles between "I have a functioning device" and "I can no longer use my device". Passcodes, password resets, account ownership claims, device ownership claims. There's an extensive path of steps to follow which allow a legitimate user to regain access.
In this situation we have:
- Someone who has disabled their access, probably through entering the wrong password a few times
- No knowledge of the security details on the linked account
- No access to the email address associated with the account
- No proof of ownership of the device
In other words, from Apple's perspective, the user in question could easily be using a stolen device.
I'm curious though – what's the 'correct' product decision that should have been made here? Is it possible to build a system which is both secure and allows _any_ user to gain access to their device, no matter how many safeguards they have avoided?
But it's possible that there are specific lessons to learn here, so it's always worth examining failure cases!
The more forgiving you are the more exposed you are to social engineering and other attempts to work around security systems.
Locking your device forever is quite damaging action no matter what "poor decisions" lead to it. Especially when those poor decisions are quite natural if they have no idea this might happen.
The issue was that she had maxed out her icloud account and kept dismissing messages. The blame for that is shared between her parent not ponying up $10 a month for 2TB of storage that can be shared by the whole family and Apple's stingy free tier that only gives you 5Gb a month per account no matter how many devices you have.
In this case, you're talking about backing up what's on your device. No device has 2TB of data to backup.
If Apple exposed the file system unencrypted, that kind of defeats the whole purpose of encryption. How many people are really going to manually connect to a computer and backup?
What's the state of backing up Android? Can you just log in to a new Android phone and have all of your data - including app data restored?
So the cloud storage is only to back up what can fit on your devices? I think the cloud storage required to backup/transfer whatever device you purchased should be free especially at the premiums they charge for a few extra built-in GBs. Charging for proper backups, that would let users easily take/copy their files somewhere else, I'm all for.
Android exposes the file system when you explicitly allow it from the device. Obviously that doesn't help when you've locked yourself out, but that's why you do regular backups. iOS does the same thing, but only for the DCIM folder and it's not in a standard way, Linux requires special software to access it and that's usually broken for a while after iOS updates. I backup my family photos and video locally and in cold storage at $0.78 a month for 174 GB. The process would only take me 5 minutes of work a month if it wasn't for 1 or more iOS devices misbehaving every time I try.
I use Android but I'm not sure on the state of their backup, I don't have any Google Cloud stuff enabled. I backup up my entire phone once in a while if I have data I think I'll care about that isn't photo or video (which is rare in my case).
All this ranting is really only because it's very frustrating that I can't control my mobile devices like I can my PCs. Android is better than iOS in that regard, but far from perfect.
You can backup your data on Android, but you can't just backup and restore the app data. Google tried that with apps that weren't built for it and it was an awful mess now it's opt-in and not all apps support it (https://www.howtogeek.com/140376/htg-explains-what-android-d...)
If my phone is dropped into a lake, I go into the Apple store and buy another one. My settings, apps, location of my apps on my home screen etc. will be just like I left it. Some apps rightfully choose for files not be backed up to iCloud. For instance it would make no sense for my podcasts to be backed up to iCloud.
As far as not having enough storage to backup your device - I agree. That's why I said Apple's free tier is "stingy".
Each app has three kinds of storage:
- files that should be copied to iCloud.
- files that should be permanently stored on the device
- temporary files that can be deleted by the OS to clear space.
The developer decides which types of files should have which retention policy.
iCloud only backs up the first kinds of files per app.
I had Laptops with me since the 90s. For over 20 years. If my iPad Pro gets stolen now, that's $1000 over 20 years = $50/year. I don't mind.
I really would love if a Linux distribution would support the iPad so I know I can do with it whatever I like forever.
Yet, "The number of smartphones stolen dropped by 50% in London, 27% in San Francisco and 16% in New York in 2014, according to an announcement by officials in the three cities" since the introduction of these anti-theft measures https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/feb/11/london-sm...
That was in a pretty nice bit of London.
I've managed to let my laptop get taken when I was really drunk at a pub too <shrug>.
Good for you. Meanwhile in London a common crime is for moped riders to snatch phones out of people’s hands. Sometimes there’s a passenger on board who will also spray the victim with acid. Maybe you would mind that?
Overall Crime and Safety Situation
U.S. Embassy Berlin does not assume responsibility for the professional ability or integrity of the persons or firms appearing in this report. The American Citizens’ Services unit (ACS) cannot recommend a particular individual or location, and assumes no responsibility for the quality of service provided.
The U.S. Department of State has assessed Berlin as being a MEDIUM-threat location for crime directed at or affecting official U.S. government interests.
Please review OSAC’s Germany-specific page for original OSAC reporting, consular messages, and contact information, some of which may be available only to private-sector representatives with an OSAC password.
Crime Threats
Crime rates throughout Germany have been comparable to those in most first-world countries, and comparative analysis of crime data for the U.S. and Germany reveals only marginal differences. The Bundeskriminalamt’s (BKA) 2016 Police Crime Statistics for Germany indicated only minor changes in the number of the majority of recorded offenses with an increase of 0.7% overall. This resulted in reported crime being at its highest level since 2005. However, when discounting the “Aliens Act-related” crimes (which saw a 21.1% increase in 2016), a fall of 0.7% in recorded offences was registered. Significant increases were seen in violent crime (6.7%) including murder and attempted murder (14.3%), rape (12%), bodily injury (8.1%) and serious bodily injury (9.9%). Increases were also seen in drug offenses (7.1%) and weapons offenses (14.8%). Significant decreases were seen in burglaries (9.5%), shoplifting (3.3%) and economic crime (5.6%).
Some observers have suggested that official statistics may not always provide an accurate accounting of the level of crime, and not all crimes reported to the police are captured in the form of an actual police report. There have been reports of police dissuading victims from making formal reports citing little chance of capturing the suspect. Such a practice may create a disincentive to report criminal activity. Outspoken representatives of police unions have stated the number of crimes is often drastically under reported. In 2015, the head of the German Detective Union (Bund Deutscher Kriminalbeamter) accused politicians of “leaving the public in the dark as to the true level of criminality.” He claimed that only 75% of domestic burglaries were reported and that sex crimes and cybercrimes were under reported.
There have also been reports of crimes, in effect, being de-criminalized due to their frequency and impact on resources. One such report involved a community declaring petty crimes, such as shoplifting, would no longer be investigated by the authorities. To tackle high-profile criminal activities, such as violent crimes and burglaries, police have reallocated and/or increased resources in certain areas, resulting in less emphasis on investigating and detecting less serious crimes, such as fraud.
It is not uncommon for visiting Americans to be victims of purse snatching or pickpocketing in high traffic and tourist areas (in train stations, internet cafes, crowded restaurants, and outdoor market places), but violent crimes against Americans have been relatively infrequent. Carry a copy of your passport while maintaining the original in a safe location. While personal assaults do occur, there is no evidence that such crimes were driven by anti-American sentiment.
https://www.osac.gov/pages/ContentReportDetails.aspx?cid=237...
>> Not a single one was stolen
The interesting question with the popularity of people having high values phones, tablets and laptops now, does the security measures of those devices keep the rate of theft low. If I were to correlate your statement (none stolen) with the theory (locking devices deters theft), it matches up. But, I get the feeling that isn't the point you wanted to make :)
Bottomline: Devices are stolen always and It is heart wrecking when you know the most intimate device where you might have your intimate pics or your family's is in the hands of someone who's not ethical. What Apple doing here, MATTERS a lot!