High school student allegedly uses device to turn off nearby iPhones
arlnow.com
arlnow.com
See https://www.ofcom.org.uk/spectrum/rules
> It is illegal, unless authorised, to use any apparatus for the purpose of interfering with wireless telegraphy. For full details, see section 68(1) of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006.
> The maximum penalty is up to two years’ imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine.The ass here is the person who is disabling phones that don't belong to him.
Pretty interesting they are referring to everyone whose photo turned off as victims. Wouldn’t they also be violators of school phone policy?
Every country / locale has different school phone policies. Even breaking the rules why would they not be labeled as victims of a crime? Someone who was pranked would usually be labeled as a "victim of the prank".
FYI, I don't think this is some major crime that deserves jail time or serious consequences but it's still a crime.
Source: banned from all SFUSD computers in middle school after exploiting misconfigured AD for the middle school library after the librarian noticed the time period it occurred
But, apparently, typing "{S /con/con" in an AOL chat blue-screened Windows participants that had their AOL sounds turned on.
http://mazur-archives.s3.amazonaws.com/aol-files/breaches/co... [AOL-Files.com] (2000)
This attack was mitigated in 17.2: https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/15/24003406/apple-iphone-fl...
Like, I classify myself as an empath, and it's physically painful to think about using it and having to face the dolphin's sad face if it's been a while.
Looks like I need to hack mine to not get sad when I don't use it. Digital antidepressants, as it were...
Yes. The firmware is open-source and can be reflashed over USB, and SWD is exposed on the socket on the top of the device.
TBH mine is mostly a clone of my NFC/RFID keys and I've got every Amiibo on ever made downloaded on it :D
I wonder if it could also be done with a simple android app.
> "According to an APS statement, 'by turning off those teenagers' phones, the student created a dangerous environment in which students might actually have been able to learn something instead of staring at their phones all day. We're just not equipped to handle that kind of thing, so we called the police instead.'"
I was very introverted throught my childhood and spent my first school years' recesses not talking to anyone, just mindlessly wandering the hallways and yard. It got to a point where I didn't even know many of my classmate's names, even after spending years "with them".
When I grew old enough to have my own phone that I could bring to school, it made recesses more bearable. It didn't sabotage or disincentivize any social interactions, because before that moment I had almost none with peers. Looking back on it, I didn't "lose out" on socialization because of phone use, as I simply didn't have any beforehand.
My school day was from 8AM to 4PM, lunch at 1, post-lunch recess at 1:30. Recesses lasted 30 minutes, with usually 4 per day.
Years of having approximately 2 hours of alone-with-my-thoughts time (as a child to preteen, not an adult), every weekday. Not fun, and to this day I don't feel like it has given me any mental benefit.
I consider myself quite lucky when reading Americans' complaints about their schools and recesses, with sentences such as "bring back recess!". I shudder to think of what goes on in some districts compared to what I had, which was overall quite sufficient and well spaced-out.
The real problem was just me. Or, if I had to put the blame on someone else, it was my parents and the school authorities which didn't really help much. Not out of bad faith or anything, just of simple ignorance or unwillingness to think of it as important enough to warrant the help I actually needed.
And to the other OC's point: not all phone use is bad. Not all "scrolling" is bad. I was quite internet-literate for my age at that time, in which, by the way, the internet wasn't the algorithmic ML doom-driven nightmare it can sometimes be today.
And about me, it wasn't just solitude. It was also nothingness. There was a computer room but it was just used for IT class and locked when not in use for that purpose. There was no library, no board games. (Not that I would have played any if they were, as I had no one to play with)
Yes. The default state appears to be primary (maybe even sole) interaction via phone. That's not to say that they're not showing each other stuff, but it's phone-to-phone - as in, sending each other social media messages, not passing a physical device back and forth.
I'm not quite so exercised about it as most people seem to be - the historically universal assumption about "the youth" is that everything they do differently is terrible, which has not typically turned out to be the case. As a (former, for now) teacher, however, the distraction-potential for / from phones is extreme. That goes for in-class, out-of-class, at-home, everywhere. I'm in favor of banning them entirely in schools, and (as a parent, who's still a few years away from facing it with my kid) limiting access at home.
Personal anecdote: my time teaching middle-school kids coincided with the brief pre-smartphone era in which they taught themselves to T9 with perfect fluency, without looking at the screen. The first few times I saw that I was so flabbergasted I couldn't even get mad. I don't know the exact age-range of that group, but it was a very precise demographic slice. I still tip my cap to those of you who learned that trick.
20 years ago when i was at school phones had to be turned off at the gate and not turned back on until you left, a 3310's text message ringtone meant someone was getting suspended. Some small exceptions were made... If you stayed late for sports practise you could turn them on outside the locker rooms to call for a lift ect...
From what i understand from my nieces / nephews the rule is still in place at the same school.
Side note: iOS's BT stack has a handful of oddly specific requirements for peripherals. It wouldn't surprise me that those requirements precipitate from... cough design oversights.
I have no doubt that lingering vulnerabilities exist in that stack.
we’re both in the DC area and I have a few interesting robotics projects for aspiring hackers
It might be a funny stunt, but there could be some serious consequences.
This glucose monitor excuse gets trotted out for these topics every time, but someone wielding a Flipper is probably the least of your concerns if device and connectivity reliability is so critical.
People become inured to extreme risks. It's common to come across people with history of anaphylaxis who only carry one or zero epipens, despite the extreme risk of death.
Some schools ban phones completely. And the school is not responsible if the children can't call 911 if there's some emergency for example.
And some buildings are constructed of materials which will obstruct the mobile signal as well. Nobody is held responsible for that when they can't call 911.
And I believe it's perfectly legal for me to use radio-blocking paint on the walls of my own house, that might obstruct the signals for the neighbours as well, if I'm hypothetically in a weak signal area. In that case the mobile operator has no right to force their signals through my home, it's within my right to block it as long as I don't use any form of illegal jamming.
The person you're replying to was also careful to say you are morally responsible. That has nothing to do with legal issues.
I thought medical hardware had to go through stringent approval processes with health authorities?
This is just an awful design in general. An auxiliary control system for your body should be much more resistant against electronic interference and self contained to prevent this kind of vulnerability.
Yeah, interfering with people's medical equipment is bad but whoever put such trash on the market should also get a prison sentence if it lead to harm.
Your proposed law would increase the price of treatment and lead to more deaths.
Not in civilised countries.
Yeah this is the case. You have to have a phone from a list of approved devices which is not very long.
In fairness, diabetics should be carrying standalone blood glucose monitors as a backup. You never know what could happen to your phone.
I don't know it anymore but I remember it started with a whole bunch of aaaaaaa, but also included other characters. The beauty is the attack left no trace at all, so they never knew what hit them.
If only other similar service rights were given the same protection. Like the constant data leaks/thefts.
This does seem to be one of those places where you would have to prove intent to get a conviction but IANAL.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpringBoard#%22effective_power...
> victims
I don't really understand why this is mainstream news. It's happened before, because it's harmless and funny - https://www.kktv.com/2023/11/30/device-brought-tennessee-hig...
In a world where the loser Doomers think China/Aliens can cripple us with a cyberattack this is exactly what is needed more to make people harden their phones, aka run updates.