The problem being they don’t allow the Factory reset without unlocking the Activation Lock. No personal data needs to be accessed for a reset, but their narrow allowed list of proof of ownership or change of ownership make that reset unable to be done.
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My wife has the password to access my 489 passwords (that does include for accounts I have sought to close, or where the company no longer exists). She also has details on how to use it, and which bits are really important (like the bank). I would not put it in a will - that is effectively a public document.
Some of the larger online presences, such as Google and Facebook, also provide for your account to be inactivated if you have not used it in six months. Again, my wife gets access to my data before it gets shut down fully - you can provide for this in the settings.
Well, that’s going to be a problem. There was a company in Europe that was scammed in 2019 using the voice of its parent company’s CEO. If someone has managed to capture a recording of you they are likely able to successfully navigate a voice print.
(I was listening to one of my IT security podcasts this morning and would not have known that a couple of sentences were AI-generated without the host pointing it out.)
And yes, deep fake videos are on their way sooner rather than later.
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I understand your point - and how you would like it to be. Here’s a not so hypothetical thought experiment.
You set a BIOS password on a desktop. (There are solid reasons to do this.) You subsequently forget the BIOS password. You want to be able to use your computer in a way that requires knowing the BIOS password. Here are your choices:
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The manufacturer has a backdoor override password. (This is sometimes the case. Lots of people hate this because it means that the intent of the BIOS password is subverted once the backdoor password is known widely enough. As in the original scenario, to persuade the manufacturer to do this on your behalf would require you to persuade the manufacturer that you are the rightful owner.)
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There is a hardware means of bypassing the BIOS password. (This is sometimes the case. This isn’t good either because, again, it allows someone to subvert the intent of the BIOS password, potentially in this case without even the assistance of the manufacturer.) The first two choices aren’t mutually exclusive. Both of them are more flawed now that the government has passed legislation forcing the manufacturer to allow the government to use these bypass mechanisms.
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There is no way of overriding the password. The computer (or at least the motherboard) is e-waste.
I understand the trade-off that you want to make.
I value the security implicit in the last choice. I value it more highly than the value of the hardware. Hardware can be replaced. Your privacy cannot. If I am silly enough to forget a password, and to fail to make alternative arrangements (such as recording the password in a secure fashion elsewhere) then that’s on me.
I think the problem in the original scenario may be that Activation Lock is on by default. Perhaps it shouldn’t be - and if you choose to turn it on then don’t forget your password.
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A real situation. A family friend phoned and said their PC had stopped working. I went to assist and discovered there is a BIOS password. The lady of the house who called me knew nothing, father never used it and 16 YO daughter is absent but didn’t use the PC much. The 13 YO son was an avid user but denied all knowledge.
I was pretty certain the boy was fooling around, got out of his depth and accidentally locked himself out and was then lying to cover his tracks. Fortunately there was no limit to the number of guesses you can make and after about 5 wrong ones I got the password, got the machine started and repaired and removed the password. I tackled the boy and he confessed. I told him if he ever fiddled with things he dinna ken too well I will rip him a new one and then drop him in it with his father.
If the BIOS was more secure and only allowed 3 tries or I couldn’t guess I would have been looking for arcane hardware solutions, eg some would clear the password if the time keeping battery was pulled and others if two jumpers on the board were bridged. I don’t know if there were any in this case.
Say the boy had successfully locked everybody out, is it really reasonable to allow foolishness to have that kind of outcome?
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Sometimes mistakes are the best learning experience. 
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OT but relevant to Apple’s corporate face. Things change over time but from my long ago working life this claim is totally believable. The ‘sanctity’ of corporate behaviour is what it is.
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Interesting, but I remain sceptical. Sceptical that you can fit a geiger counter into an iPod (while still having all the electronics needed for an iPod). Sceptical that such secrecy would be justifiable for a geiger counter.
I think it is believable that the US government developed a custom iPod with extra software functions, with a view to some nefarious activity.
It is possible that Apple were told that it was for some harmless thing like a geiger counter (noting however that the statement that it was a geiger counter is completely speculative, comes from the ex-Apple engineer, and there is no claim that it is a geiger counter or that anyone ever said that it is a geiger counter).
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It would not have been about the geiger counter, it would have been why they were using a geiger counter in the first place. They arguably would not have wanted that exposure. Imagine the Australian government claiming there was no radiation on the continent from Maralinga. Would one want to be seen with a geiger counter in Adelaide and being asked why? Another aspect from the US would be paranoia about detecting dirty bombs. Hey mate, what are you looking for with your geiger counter?
No geiger counter here mate, just grooving with my iPod!
disclaimer: I knew a number of very scary people during my career, and a bit about how they went about their days. And yes, it seems there would be easier ways to disguise one, but again, I knew some very scary people and how they went about their days, so might be susceptible to ‘stories’.
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Why build it into an iPod though? (if you are wandering around in your own country) Only the sensor needs to be out in the open and there must be a dozen unsuspicious items that you could embed a geiger counter in without involving Apple / custom iPod operating system builds / … e.g. a walking stick.
If you need one: 
http://www.kitsusa.net/phpstore/html/C6999-Worlds-Tiniest-Assembled-Geiger-Counter-5937.html
although admittedly technology has improved in the last 15 years.
Anyway, let’s see whether more facts emerge on this story …
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One never asked why when they organised anything… as I wrote
Mr.Bond, here is how it works
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