I’ve been playing with a friend’s iPhone to see how the activation process works (there are people who want an iPhone to use it as an iPod and WiFi device without having to enter into a 2-year AT&T contract).

The following pieces of information are used to activate an iPhone:

Unfortunately, the activation data is cryptographically signed. The following certificate (“Apple iPhone Activation”, issued by “Apple iPhone Certification Authority”) is used to verify the signature:

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----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-----END CERTIFICATE-----