- Apple has removed the Bitcoin whitepaper from its latest MacOS release
- The whitepaper was discovered three weeks ago by a tech blogger in a random PDF
- The internal tool that contained the file has also been removed
Apple has removed the Bitcoin whitepaper from its MacOS operating system, three weeks after it was discovered. The release of macOS Ventura 13.4 beta 3 to developers on Tuesday revealed that Apple had removed the whitepaper, disguised as a PDF called ‘simpledoc.pdf’, which was concealed in the system files. Apple did not comment on the discovery or the removal of the whitepaper, which was found by a tech blogger who was trying to fix his printer.
Bitcoin Whitepaper Was Hidden Among System Files
The discovery of the Bitcoin whitepaper hidden among a bunch of system files resulted in a few theories, from it being a test of some kind that Apple forgot to remove to a lone libertarian landing a covert strike for the small man. The file was situated in a folder within the Image Capture app, alongside other PDFs and images. These assets were components of an internal tool called “VirtualScanner.app,” which allowed Apple engineers to simulate the process of scanning and exporting documents and images with the Image Capture app, without requiring a scanner.
As well as the Bitcoin whitepaper, the complete internal tool has been removed in the release, implying that neither the Bitcoin whitepaper nor the internal tool was ever intended to be discovered by ordinary users, with 9-5Mac suggesting that “engineers previously did not bother to remove this tool from the public release of macOS since it didn’t include any sensitive information.”
Will Craig Wright Sue Apple?
It was predictable that Apple would remove the whitepaper once it became public, but the story may not be over. As we reported at the time, Craig Wright has sued a collection of Bitcoin companies and developers he says are infringing his copyright by encouraging the distribution of the blockchain, which has the whitepaper embedded within it, and given that Apple has seemingly carried out a far more egregious act, we wait to see if he is stupid enough to follow this train of thought all the way to a U.S. courtroom.
