China renewed its charm offensive on TMT readers this week with an audacious hacking of iTunes’ gift certificate algorithm. These upstanding Chinese citizens are now selling $200 gift cards on Taobao, a Chinese equivalent to eBay, for as little as $2.60. Using the site’s instant messaging platform, the buyer receives a gift voucher code from the seller that can then be used to redeem the card from a user's iTunes account. The cards are also available in the U.S for around $43 on eBay.
The hacker’s craft is so brilliant that not only have they given Apple a fine kick in the teeth, but they’ve also posed a frustrating conundrum for those good-for-nothing capitalists. If Apple decides to change the gift voucher code generation algorithm, all of the cards available right now would become obsolete. Consequently, the only ones making money at this moment in time are the code sellers and the artists who still get paid when their music is downloaded from iTunes.
It’s been only a week since the Chinese government’s commendable decision to ban Oasis from playing dates in Shanghai and Beijing in April (TMT News) and now this ingenious nation delivers another slap in the face to shameless profiteers. Who ever said quasi-Communism doesn’t work?
Comrade Obama, start taking notes.
