Saudi Journalist Wore Apple Watch and Recorded His Own Murder in Saudi Consulate | Hacker News Reader

Saudi Journalist Wore Apple Watch and Recorded His Own Murder in Saudi Consulate

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38 pointsjoak15 comments

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18206059

I read speculation in another article that the Turks do have a recording of his murder, but this Apple Watch stuff may just be a cover story to obscure the fact that the recording came from a bug in the consulate. Apparently some of the technical details don't add up, like Apple Watches don't have working LTE in Turkey, and he was too far from his phone for bluetooth.

The Turks may have simply put their own receiver nearby, especially if they were concerned for his safety beforehand. I'm sure their sigint is more than capable of that.

They do have WiFi and it will connect to any nearby network the phone has previously paired with, but I think you’re onto something more likely.

It’s also possible his body was moved with the watch still on and it connected at that point to some network.

Wasn’t he only visiting though and primarily living in the us working for the Post?

The original story has some technical problems: https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/10/12/saudi-journalist-...

- It claimed Saudis were able to unlock Khashoggi's watch using his fingerprints (the watch uses a passcode)

- Apple Watch does not have cellular functionality in Turkey -- e.g. how did the recorded data get onto iCloud?

This seems to come from a Turkish government paper - Sabah Daily

Here's another actual news source covering it, rather than the entertainment show the op linked to: https://uk.reuters.com/article/saudi-politics-dissident/turk...

They say that the watch was linked to a phone that he left outside (with his fiancee, who could easily have his unlock code)

I don't know the range of the apple watch - phone connection - is it bluetooth or wireless? It's feasible that wireless could have been synced at some point, perhaps when the watch was removed from the embassy.

Apple Watch will switch between bluetooth and wifi automatically to connect to the paired iphone.

> "A copy of the audio file was synced with Khashoggi's iPhone, which was in the possession of fiancee Hatice Cengiz. Cengiz was waiting outside the consulate during the alleged exchange, assumedly within Bluetooth range of the Apple Watch in question."

I was under the impression that Bluetooth range was <100 feet, but apparently Bluetooth 4.0 can reach up to 100 meters?

https://bradymower.com/apple-watch-connection-distance-iphon...

If that's the case then yes, it's feasible the watch could still communicate with his iPhone, which was being held by his fiancee outside. In ideal conditions, of course.

You can't rely on longer range, but it happens to work sometimes. If the phase of the moon is right. I've mislaid my phone and had the bluetooth headset work well beyond that range.

You can unlock a watch using touchID on your phone. It can also connect to iCloud through the phone.

He wasn't allowed to bring his phone inside.

I wonder if he was using "Just Press Record" to record the audio? It has an Apple Watch app and complication, and it automatically syncs to iCloud. It also works independently of the iPhone, and syncs up later. I share the same question as others in this thread: how did the audio get back to the phone?

https://www.openplanetsoftware.com/just-press-record/

Is this written by Philip K. Dick?

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