[LINK] SMH: Apple's Dumbed-Down Smart Phone

[Roger Clarke]

[Back when the earth was a pup, journos had not the first clue about 
any aspect of computing and telecommunications.

[So it warms the cockles of me 'art that an article in the mainstream 
press, *and* not on the technology page, can say the following, 
clearly and accurately (and expect a lot of readers to understand it):

"unlike the BlackBerry and other smartphones, the iPhone does not 
allow a company's IT staff to install and upgrade its own security 
software, leaving business networks at risk of penetration"

[Sorry about the expression, but it's not easy to do old-codger mode 
in ASCII text.


Smart phone, pity criminals are proving even smarter
Date: October 20 2010
The Sydney Morning Herald
Dylan Welch
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/smart-phone-pity-criminals-are-proving-even-smarter-20101019-16sld.html?skin=text-only

THE global obsession with the iPhone is not only becoming a threat to 
security: an entire criminal industry has sprung up around it, says 
the head of the Australian Crime Commission.

Speaking at an Australian Institute of Criminology conference in 
Melbourne, John Lawler said an ''overwhelming desire for instant 
services [was coming] at the expense of security and safety''.

This year Apple's chief financial officer told a shareholder meeting 
that more than 70 Fortune 100 companies were either using or trying 
out iPhones, and it was rapidly replacing the BlackBerry as the 
must-have business phone.

But unlike the BlackBerry and other smartphones, the iPhone does not 
allow a company's IT staff to install and upgrade its own security 
software, leaving business networks at risk of penetration.

Mr Lawler also said the increasing ubiquity of the phone meant that 
criminals were finding more and more opportunities to use it to 
intrude, to steal and to defraud.

''With the explosive uptake of personal communication devices there 
are certainly already opportunities that appeal to organised 
criminals,'' said Mr Lawler, who spent 25 years with the Australian 
Federal Police before becoming the Crime Commission's chief executive 
in March last year.

Even the desire for the phone is creating a burgeoning black market, he said.

In May European police launched raids in 11 countries to break up a 
Neapolitan mafia ring that was importing and distributing fake 
iPhones made in China.


-- 
Roger Clarke                                 http://www.rogerclarke.com/
			            
Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd      78 Sidaway St, Chapman ACT 2611 AUSTRALIA
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Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW
Visiting Professor in Computer Science    Australian National University