More information revealed on iPhone's "blacklist"

Earlier this week many people, including us, reported on a discovered “blacklist” that the iPhone is capable of using, in which it consults an Apple-operated link and can disable installed applications. The intention seemed to have been to disable potentially malicious applications, which some inferred it could be used by Apple to strong-arm developers they don't approve of.

More information on that function has been revealed, and now it seems it's not quite as potent as first imagined. It seems the “blacklist” is capable of disabling access only to the Core Location API, which programs on the iPhone can use to gather location data. It would be used for programs like GPS and navigation programs, and could presumably be used to locate someone as well. It seems Apple's intention is not to be pushy, but rather ensure that any application using this API is secure enough to avoid leaking someone’s position.

Not a bad idea, though I'm sure some more suspicious types will still be wary of it.