this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2023
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US senators have urged the DOJ to probe Apple's alleged anti-competitive conduct against Beeper.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago (20 children)

It's not a public API. Hacking someone's private API is already against law - charging $$ for it moreso.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (6 children)

Genuinely curious, what's the law against reverse engineering an API? I can maybe see the argument for charging for the service, but beeper mini is planning to integrate other services as well so I don't know if that'll really hold water.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago (5 children)

They can reverse engineer it and run it as their own service with their own infrastructure. But that doesn't mean they can then start accessing Apple's implementation and using Apple's resources without permission.

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

What do you think an API is? They have reverse engineered the iMessage API and are using that to connect to the iMessage servers. It is literally impossible to do as you suggest (use entirely their own resources) because iMessage is centralized and cannot federate with any other server, even if one did exist.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

They are saying they could run their own competing iMessage.

Of course that’s not Beeper’s goal. But in this conversation, that was the point being made.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

They have reverse engineered the iMessage API

Yes, this part is legal and fine.

and are using that to connect to the iMessage servers.

This is not allowed because Apple doesn't want to allow it. They own the infrastructure serving the API, they get to determine who is authorized to use it. They can block whoever they want. And technically speaking, using it in an unauthorized manner could even rise to the level of a criminal violation of the CFAA.

It is literally impossible to do as you suggest (use entirely their own resources) because iMessage is centralized and cannot federate with any other server, even if one did exist.

Partially correct. It is not impossible to do as I suggested, because I never suggested that they should have interoperability with iMessage.

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