Apple Bans 'Big Brother Camera Security' App Over iPhone Passcode Study

Apple has yanked another controversial app from the App Store. This time, the app in question is Big Brother Camera Security, which lets a user remotely photograph someone who is improperly trying to access his missing iPhone.

Developer Daniel Amitay apparently angered Apple by posting a study on his blog that revealed the most common iPhone passcodes.

After Apple initially approved the Big Brother app, Amitay wrote new code for the app that recorded keystrokes corresponding to the numeric passcodes that Big Brother users had set to access the app. "Because Big Brother's passcode setup screen and lock screen are nearly identical to those of the actual iPhone passcode lock, I figured that the collected information would closely correlate with actual iPhone passcodes," Amitay wrote on his blog on Monday. He also claimed that the data was collected anonymously.

Perhaps the correlation was too close. By Tuesday evening, Apple had pulled the app from the app store. On Wednesday morning, Amitay wrote that an Apple representative informed him that Apple believed he was "surreptitiously harvesting user passwords."

Amitay says he has resubmitted his app--sans controversial code--and has made the following appeal to Apple:

- Data in question was specific to my app, and not the iPhone.

- Data in question was anonymous and had no identifying markers.

- Data in question was for the purpose of improving effectiveness of future updates.

Furthermore, he wrote in his blog, "If users are choosing 1234 as their passcodes in mass, then my app by extension becomes less effective. This anonymous data helps me improve future versions."

Amitay has also noted that he believes his data collection was legitimate, based on section b of the iTunes EULA, which reads,

b. Consent to Use of Data: You agree that Application Provider may collect and use technical data and related information, including but not limited to technical information about Your device, system and application software, and peripherals, that is gathered periodically to facilitate the provision of software updates, product support and other services to You (if any) related to the Licensed Application. Application Provider may use this information, as long as it is in a form that does not personally identify You, to improve its products or to provide services or technologies to You.

Do you think Apple was right to pull this app? Let us know in the QuickPoll (below).

Quick Poll

Should Apple have booted the Big Brother app?

Yes. This was a violation of users' privacy.

No. There was no harm done to users.

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Comments

[David Landry]

04:26 PM on 06/17/2011

I like how Apple feigns concern about user security by pulling an app that exposed a weakness in a 4 digit pass code system .... if Apple has the lest bit of real interest in their users security there wouldn't be a 4 digit pass code system to expose in the first place.

[JavaSavant]

01:03 AM on 06/17/2011

1 2 3 4?!?! That's amazing! I've got the same combination on my luggage!

[jsgaetano]

12:25 AM on 06/17/2011

Keylogging is BS, no matter what the justification for it is.

[Sundialsvc4]

06:48 PM on 06/16/2011

Love the "Saint Jobs the Divine" photo .. complete with halo.

[MamasLittleBoy]

06:17 PM on 06/16/2011

That's why my iPhone passcode is 7898!

Oops...

[Patrick Franks]

01:10 AM on 06/16/2011

Red Handed Cam has the same features and is easier to use. I don't think the developer is data mining. App works great. Does anyone think Apple will pull this one also?

[SickHippie]

06:18 PM on 06/15/2011

Yup, Apple does like to silence people who show their weak spots.

In this case, the weak spot is between the ears of users. 1234 as your unlock passcode? Really?

[bryanzth]

06:46 PM on 06/15/2011

However, the Big Brother App Develoer COULD have visited with Apple on this, instead of doing a Wikileaks thing.

THEN, when Apple dissed him in the meeting, he could have dialed a number that released that info.

And with regard to Passcodes, yeah, it's brutal out there. Dumbos who don't know how to write passcodes that can't be cracked as easy.

BZ.

[SickHippie]

06:59 PM on 06/15/2011

There really wasn't a reason to go to Apple with it - we all know Apple wouldn't care at all. They were simply aggregating information which, as a security company, would help in the future to improve the security of the app. They could take the most common passwords and bar people from using them with the simple "this is a commonly used password, please try again".

There was no reason whatsoever for Apple to ban the app, other than exposing the soft tissue of their users.

Granted, it would have been fun to go about it your way, but it would have given Apple justification to pull the app instead of this way where they're clearly the real Big Brother.

I always get mad when I try to put in a password and it doesn't let me use special characters. Letters and numbers just doesn't quite cut it anymore.

[CaptainObvvious]

04:55 PM on 06/15/2011

If they can use this app to correlate what people are using to lock their phones it shouldn't be allowed in its current form.

I don't see anything wrong with that. Its their store and if violates our security then it should be pulled.

[bryanzth]

06:48 PM on 06/15/2011

It's their store, right. But the App developer did a no-no when you are dealing with a large corp. He could have visited privately with them. Then afterwards...

And the deal with bad passcodes, who writes the filter for passcode strength recommendations? Betcha Apple did.

BZ.

[ResearchtheFacts]

04:45 PM on 06/15/2011

Ha Ha Ha Ha...

[ewj1]

03:45 PM on 06/15/2011

This is Apple at is worse. Their service is being hacked, people are losing money, they are closing discussions and they remove a app out of spite. Apple is the new Goldman Saks.

[bryanzth]

06:52 PM on 06/15/2011

No, it's not "Apple", it's their middle level management that needs a royal visit from Jobs or his avatar.

Apple designs great things. But sometimes there are problems. The WORST thing that can happen is for people inside or outside to make it a power struggle.

HOW OLD are the people doing this kind of jack@$$ powre negotiations?

That might tell you something. Probably 25-35 year old hot shots. Perhaps a bit beyond on either side, but these people have not learned how to fix things. The younger ones are still interns learning from these folks. And those older are doing things so important that they can't be bothered with these "children".

Who cares? i don't use iPhone or iPad (I could, but I don't). I do use Macs, but I don't like ATT or Verizon.

BZ.

[portabello]

03:22 PM on 06/15/2011

Someone posted that you can disable the option for 'simple password' in yesterday's story and then have an alpha-numeric password. That's cool. I did not know that.

Unfortunately, most people who use this feature will probably pick 'password' as their password. :(

I'm not sure why Jobs is upset. I think the guy did people a public service by showing how insecure people's passwords generally are.

[arizonabay]

04:13 PM on 06/15/2011

Apple was embarrassed and they are paying this guy back.

[redyst]

01:19 PM on 06/15/2011

Wow, that was quick! I was just enjoying the "Top Ten Passwords" article yesterday! On a more serious note, if Apple is this serious about its "users' safety", and the developer HADN'T posted his findings publicly, I doubt they would have ever found out.