The US Government Has Modified The IPod So A Spy Device

Ilustrasi iPod Classic (Image by Mike Foster from Pixabay)

JAKARTA - Apple's iPod music player device was very popular in the early 2000s. It turns out that behind its popularity, the government of the United States (US) has remodeled the iPod into a special device.

This was told by a former Apple software engineer, David Shayer. On the TidBits page, Shayer shared his experience of being an engineer in a classified research conducted by the US Department of Energy, 15 years ago.

Not only Apple, a secret project involving contractors from the US Department of Defense. Where Shayer was assigned to add special hardware on iPod devices that can record and collect information without being caught.

"Helping engineers add a special device - and undetectable. But it can still function like an iPod in general," said Shayer as quoted by BGR, Wednesday, August 19.

In this secret project, engineers used the fifth generation iPod Classic which was popular that year. Despite being a collaborative project, Apple didn't just give their iPod unit or software to tinker with

According to Shayer, a team of engineers from the US government was forced to buy dozens of iPods themselves in the framework of testing. "I was only asked to provide the required computer specifications, including an ARM or JTAG debugger."

Apart from Shayer, there were two other engineers assigned from the US Government, Paul and Matthew. Together they researched and modified the software and hardware that could be embedded in the iPod.

Until finally, Shayer got the idea to create a hidden partition from the storage space of the iPod. Its purpose is to store confidential recordings or documents when the iPod is connected to iTunes.

"That way, even if someone plugs a modified iPod into a Mac or PC, iTunes will treat it as a normal iPod, and it will look like a normal iPod in Mac Finder or Windows Explorer," he said.

Long story short, the idea is quite liked by the US government. But until the end of his assignment, Shayer had never seen a prototype of the secret project he was working on.

The reason is, only the fifth generation iPod Classic was the last device they managed to tamper with. Because a few years later, Apple added a digital security feature so that the device could no longer be modified using an external operating system. Even the iPod Nano is designed by Apple to be very thin and can easily be damaged if disassembled.

Regarding his work, Shayer was also asked by Apple not to ask too far about his research and technology development. Since then, only four people at Apple including himself are aware of the particular project.