This looks like an internet hoax, but it’s not.

“New York police officers were handing out flyers to people around New York City on Saturday urging them to upgrade their devices to Apple’s new iOS7 operating system.

“NYPD’s Public Awareness Notice promotes the software as giving ‘added security to your devices.’

“The NYPD notice also urges people to register their devices with their ‘Operation Identification Program.’”

Anything can be faked today. But this seems to be the real deal. “We’re from the government, and we’re here to help you,” come to mind. But like all promises of government help, there are strings attached. More like chains.

Michael Hoffman tweeted the following:

“‘Four uniformed NYPD officers were at my subway stop tonight asking me to upgrade to iOS 7. Not a joke!’

“The message of the NYPD flyer reads: ‘By downloading the new operating system, should your device get lost or stolen, it cannot be reprogrammed without an Apple ID or password.’”

One would think that the NYPD has better things to do, like protect New Yorkers from murderers, thieves, and rapists.
The most troubling feature of the request is the registration factor. What will the NYPD do with the information? Could it be used for more than loss protection?

Could the police deactivate the phone remotely? What if you’re recording a “police incident” that the police does not want to go up on YouTube? We saw that at a Hillary Clinton event, a man’s camera phone was confiscated by her security team:

“During a Clinton speech Thursday [Sept. 19, ’13] at a convention in Miami, an audience member dared snap a pic of the presumed presidential candidate with his smartphone, but Clinton’s team swept in, confiscated the man’s phone and deleted the snapshot.”

I don’t trust the government and neither should you.