Whoa, I didn't realize that this change was made public nearly 2 months ago based on an internal memo sent to repair/service providers. This appears to have been done to reduce fraudulent repair claims being directed against Apple. Whether it actually helps, or whether it is for other reasons is TBD, but there is no question at all that Apple has been scorched very badly over the past several by fraudulent repair issues.
Whoa, I didn't realize that this change was made public nearly 2 months ago based on an internal memo sent to repair/service providers. This appears to have been done to reduce fraudulent repair claims being directed against Apple. Whether it actually helps, or whether it is for other reasons is TBD, but there is no question at all that Apple has been scorched very badly over the past several by fraudulent repair issues.
Fraudulent repair has been a BIG problem for Apple for DECADES. I worked for two different Apple Authorised Repair Centres back in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The first shop was completely legit, but the second (bigger) shop was full of shady practices such as making warranty claims for perfectly good parts as part of an otherwise genuine warranty repair and then using the additional parts for other customers' machines.
I didn't last long at that second place. Something about a bad cultural fit.
Lame. Security through obscurity not good. Apple may also be trying to disrupt the second market and further crush right to repair. Shrugs. Sad.
You really have no idea what you’re talking about, eh? In this context, masking the device with randomized serial numbers is not the context which “security by obscurity” is referenced, which means security vulnerabilities being unfixed while hoping no one discovers them.
And this has nothing to do with your paranoid fantasies about corporate overlords twisting their waxed mustaches in order to crush repair shops.
I've seen a lot of screencasts on YouTube where people blur out their S/N for reasons I never could understand. As if someone would see that S/N and then appear at your front door the next morning! Sorry but that isn't happening. Well, perhaps this change will eliminate blurred out info on screencasts once and for all.
As to being able to look up details of a machine by S/N, if that aspect goes away, what replaces it? Meaning, how would one quickly determine details of their machine in a similarly easy manner via a third party like EveryMac?
The reason people blur out their SN is so that dishonest people don’t generate fake paperwork to claim ownership and then file a stolen item report and claim you stole it. That sort of thing.
I appreciate the answer, but how widespread a problem is that, really? For example, if I truly own a machine and have the receipt to prove it, and of course the seller has their own records, how then would a thief with fake papers prevail with such an attempted deception? Wouldn't what you suggest be akin to me seeing someones physical address and then creating fake papers that say I in fact own that home?
I'm still trying to figure out how serious a threat it truly is to display a product serial number openly, or if in fact this threat is just a "potential" source of "trouble" in terms of a dispute being filed which would ultimately fail.
Just damn obnoxious: it solves NO problem, but it PREVENTS some problem from being solved. You can’t check for a range of serial numbers with premature battery failures, etc. anymore: it obscures patterns in hardware problems for anyone but Apple which will hardly voluntarily share them 😡🤬
Recalls/failures are not always connected to a "range" of serial numbers. Apple sources from multiple component manufacturers. Which specific battery manufacturer is in any specific Mac might vary, depending on the place in the production line...
Apple will soon be changing the way serial numbers of Macs and MacBooks are created, with a switch to randomized numbers in early 2021 making it harder to suss out details about a device.
Currently, the serial number of Apple products use a format that can provide more information about the device. The existing string can be used to work out when and where a device was produced, as well as configuration codes that reveal the model and storage capacity of the device.
In a change to that structure, Apple will be switching over to a new serial number format that consists of a random alphanumeric string between 8 characters and 14 character in length. The internal AppleCare email seen byMacRumors explains it will be scheduled for introduction in "early 2021," and will initially use serial numbers that are 10 digits in length.
The introduction was originally set to take place in early 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced Apple to delay its implementation by a year. Currently-shipping Apple products will continue using the existing format, but future products will switch to the new version.
The change in format will effectively make it impossible to gleam details of the location of manufacture and the week and year of production, details that can be determined with the current system.
Other unique identifiers, such as the IMEI number of an iPhone, will remain unchanged in their current format.
I think changing the serial number format is just an internal thing that might be significant for the guys working at apple and their partners. If there were any privacy issues, changing the format would not be the only thing we would be hearing about. I recently checked the serial number for M1 machine at https://techable.com/apple/ and I did get the correct result from their database and get the same at everymac as well
Seems like a generally good principle. Don't volunteer information that you don't need to share. Don't wait for the exploit before your reconsider a vulnerability and close it off. It's not that long ago that it was common practice to use US Social Security numbers for routine identification. Schools and businesses literally printed them on ID cards and badges, and on pay stubs, time cards and other things that would just be left lying around. Why generate a new identification numbering system when this one already existed, they thought. They even printed SSNs on state driver's licenses unless you specifically asked them not to do that. It seemed both convenient and harmless at the time.
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I didn't last long at that second place. Something about a bad cultural fit.
And this has nothing to do with your paranoid fantasies about corporate overlords twisting their waxed mustaches in order to crush repair shops.
I'm still trying to figure out how serious a threat it truly is to display a product serial number openly, or if in fact this threat is just a "potential" source of "trouble" in terms of a dispute being filed which would ultimately fail.