Apple cuts off Beeper Mini’s access after launch of service that brought iMessage to Android

That would seem to imply that tech commenters know less than Apple about Apple’s own servers. Shocking.

My bet is that is if Apple comments at all, they will talk about closing a security vulnerability rather than cutting off android users.

The thing with this service is, if I understand it correctly, that they were using someone else’s device ID to send messages.

So, say for example that someone started using my Mac Mini’s ID (my Mac being located in Madrid, Spain) to send iMessages in the US….

People expected Apple not noticing it?

It worked when it was some hacker’s project because at that time, a few stolen Apple device IDs didn’t raise too many red flags. But at a large scale, and used by a company, it may be easy for Apple to detect.

And don’t be fooled: the system worked by stealing someone else’s legitimate device ID, and pose as it to send messages to the system. So, this company could be making money by using you Apple device ID. I’m not ok with that.

Why would Apple have to reverse engineer their own protocol?

Yep; different circumstances though.

Beeper Mini was shut down by Apple, which allegedly identified the requests from Beeper Mini and terminated access to its servers.

Nothing Chat/Sunbird, on the other hand, was shut down from themselves, because they were caught mishandling user information. The method itself was not shut down, rather they discontinued their own implementation. (Fwiw, Beeper has a similar implementation on another product of theirs, which remains functional as far as I know. )

No one bullies anyone. It’s a choice.