this post was submitted on 11 Dec 2023
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Senator Warren calls out Apple for shutting down Beeper's 'iMessage to Android' solution::U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is throwing her weight behind Beeper, the app that allowed Android users to message iPhone users via iMessage,

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[–] Waluigis_Talking_Buttplug 23 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (7 children)

What's the point of asking questions when this community just downvotes? Why even have a forum if it's only use is to.upvote things that agree with your pre established opinions?

[–] tabular 50 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I'm having a brain fart, what movie is this from again? I remember the scene but can't remember the movie

[–] Torch 15 points 11 months ago
[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago (12 children)

Your primary contribution to this conversation is to bitch about how no one engages with you? I see users responding to you but then all you are responding back with is editing your comment to say "thanks for answering"? Idk man... maybe it's your approach to dialogue. Being super dismissive and retaliatory tends to bring downvotes.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago (2 children)

If it accessed the message system directly then it makes sense. They're was one just before it that ran on Mac mini farms.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Beeper Mini registered your phone number with Apple and connected directly to the iMessage servers. That version was killed after three days of usage. The mac mini farm still works but that's just through an apple ID email address.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

I have such a love/hate relationship with my senator.

  • She basically brought the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau into existence, which helps TONS of people not get fucked over by banks and stuff
  • Simultaneously, she tends to support corporatist stuff a frustrating amount of the time, and (similar to how Feinstein was, but not quite as bad) doesn’t really know what she’s talking about when it comes to tech and the nuances involved

Edit: to be clear, this isn’t me doing a “hail corporate” and saying Apple is categorically in the right here - simply that there are a LOT more technical complexities going on here than the (reductive) statement Warren made seems to indicate

[–] generalpotato 7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Get the fuck out of here with your nuance. You have no business being on the internet.

/s (in case it isn’t obvious)

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Warren, an advocate for stricter antitrust enforcement, posted her support for Beeper on X (formerly Twitter) and questioned why Apple would restrict a competitor.

In explaining its decision to cut off Beeper’s access to its servers, Apple said that it took “steps to steps to protect our users by blocking techniques that exploit fake credentials in order to gain access to iMessage.” It also suggested that Beeper’s techniques “posed significant risks to user security and privacy, including the potential for metadata exposure and enabling unwanted messages, spam, and phishing attacks.”

In addition, Cupertino-based tech giant argued against Beeper’s security, saying it was not able to verify that messages sent through unauthorized means were able to maintain the end-to-end encryption iMessage offers.

Beeper, however, claims it was able to offer the same level of encryption as iMessage uses, but did not put its app through a third-party security audit prior to its launch, which would have strengthened its argument.

As of its most recent update on Sunday, the startup posted that work continues on the outage and it hopes to “have good news to share soon.”

Beeper Mini, then, became an app that focused solely on bringing iMessage to Android for $1.99/month, with the intention of expanding its capabilities over time.


The original article contains 474 words, the summary contains 210 words. Saved 56%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago

If this sparks an interoperability discussion (and actions) in the USA, it'll be ironic for Apple who might escape interoperability in the EU.

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