Apple released a new version of the iPhone 4S 5.0.1 firmware yesterday. Surprisingly, the ramdisks are not encrypted in that release. That’s why it is now possible to write a simple script to extract all the necessary Siri files from the 5.0.1 ipsw. And because the ipsw is publicly available, obtaining the Siri files is completely legal.
“Huh…today’s 4S 5.0.1 bump (9A406) has wide open main fs musclenerd.com/4s406.txt“
@stroughtonsmith mentioned in a recent tweet that Siri is sending your GPS location to Apple every time you use it, even if it’s a non-mapping request.
Interesting tidbit: every time you make a Siri request to Apple it sends your GPS location with it (even non-mapping requests)
This may sound concerning at first, but there is a simple, logical reason behind it. Apple and Siri don’t know if you are going to set a timer or if you are requesting something location based. Your voice is streamed to Apple’s servers and immediately processed. If Apple didn’t have your location, it couldn’t immediately generate location based results. It would first have to request to location from the iPhone and and then generate the answer. This would make the whole process a lot slower.
But even if this makes perfect sense, it’s still good to know that Apple knows where you are every time you use Siri.
Related Article:
Siri and concerns about privacy
@stroughtonsmith demanded @jackoplane to post a video because Jackoplane wanted 500$ in donations to pay for the server. Stroughtonsmith then tweeted
It’s been a month; I’m still waiting for evidence from @Jackoplane that he’s got any further with Siri than the stuff I *gave* him.
After that, he demanded Jackoplane to post a video proof.
@THiZIZMiZZ well ok then; stop collecting money until it’s proven to be real
Ultimatum thrown down. [link to the picture below]
@Jackoplane how about you post a video right now and show everybody, not just me?
A video will be shot 2morro.
Let’s see if Jackoplane will release the video tomorrow or if the has been lying to us for the last few weeks just to get money from us.
@stroughtonsmith was the first one to get the Siri UI working on an iPhone 4 after the iPhone 4S and Siri were released. He then stopped working on the port. Today, he got together with @chpwn and they managed to fully port Siri over to the iPhone 4 and iPod Touch!
They released a video showing Siri running on an iPhone 4S and an iPhone 4 side by side. Continue reading
