On January 19 , I pick up an electronic mail from Apple ’s iTunes Store hold a list of songs I had recently buy . The only trouble ? I had n’t bought any of them .
Now , I ’m highly paranoid about accounting issues , and havetwo - step verificationenabled on both of my Apple IDs . I checked to verify no other configurations had been vary and I had n’t seen any telltales of my account being cracked .
While I ’m not an combat-ready target of abuse , I have cram into the GamerGate tilt , although purchase about $ 8 in songs hardly seemed like something done to harass . Perhaps it was a “ pilot Pisces the Fishes , ” an attempt to examine at a weakness , see if it could be exploited , and then used for bad end ? One of the songs was Mike Oldfield ’s “ Tubular bell , ” better know as the theme to the movieThe Exorcist , which did seem a bit inauspicious .
I contacted Apple ’s iTunes Store through links forreporting unauthorized or undesirable leverage , explained that I had n’t bought the songs in question , and the charges were reversed . I had to schedule a call with a specialiser to get my iTunes Store access unbarred , but my Apple ID remained combat-ready . So far , so good . I thought perhaps it was database corruption or some glitch in the system . With the volume Apple handles , improbable issue must come , however infrequently .
The song were purchase by an Apple TV that I almost never use .
Two week later , at midnight , I received a notification that a pre - order is ready to download . The trouble again ? I had n’t pre - ordered the song . I contacted Apple to see if something else was afoot . ( It bend out the Sung dynasty in question was pre - ordered with the set of purchases I ’d had reverse , and was delivered when usable , so this was n’t a unexampled incident . )
I commit Apple permit to go my records , and they were able to nail the date , sentence , and twist : an Apple telecasting on a Sunday even , January 18 . Curiouser and curiouser . While we own a tertiary - genesis Apple TV , we rarely use it at this point , rather turning to the fair to middling Netflix app and terrible Amazon Instant Video app built into our Samsung high-definition television , as we ’re Amazon Prime client . ( It ’s truly terrible , with a bad interface , high latency , and frequent crashes . But it ’s integrate ! )
How did we make a leverage from a twist we did n’t use ? Then I recognise the perpetrator : an Apple Remote .
An EyeTV countenance you watch over - the - atmosphere TV on your Mac , and you could assure it with an Apple Remote .
too soon that Sunday , the superpower had run out for 14 hours due to a windstorm that bring down Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree in our locality . The power take up mid - afternoon , and that evening , my kids and I were watch disperse TV from a Mac miniskirt bewitch byan old eyeTV wireless — which we control withan honest-to-god white infrared Apple Remote .
Now , we ’ve had that blanched Apple Remote for several geezerhood . The Apple TV is paired with a newer aluminum Apple Remote , and never the couple had met . Until now . Given that we ’ve used both remotes singly for years , we must have shoot some peculiar set of circumstances in which the livid Apple Remote train to the Apple TV . ( I ca n’t tell if the power outage was the culprit , but the command sequence to match is “ iron out and guard the Menu and Next / dissipated - forward button for 6 seconds”—and I sure enough did n’t press that sequence ! )
Then , while intermit , choose computer menu items , and otherwise controlling the eyeTV software , I was also invisibly navigating the iTunes Store on the Apple tv set and purchasing vocal . The sequence of purchase then made good sense : all M’s — Mike Oldfield , “ Mess Is Mine ” by Vance Joy , and MisterWives . ( No offensive activity to the artists in interrogative sentence ; I do n’t have a go at it their employment at all , other than Oldfield . )
All that continue was tounpair the white Apple Remotefrom the Apple TV to get disembarrass of the trace in the machine .
