So, that has nothing to do with apple or macs. (Except a part at the end which might not be what you’re talking about)

When you use a credit card the transaction record is kept by the merchant who sells you the computer, the card processor and the card issuer (I’m probably using the wrong terms, it’s been awhile since I had to accurately talk about the precise operation of credit card payments.). So when you buy anything using a credit card, at least three entities who can be ordered to submit to law enforcement requests and are legally required to keep records of transactions actually have records of that transaction.

So when I swipe my visa to get a bag of apples at the wal mart, wal mart, their processor and my bank all have record that they’re required to keep for accounting purposes and will turn over when they get a lawful order to do so.

I don’t remember if it’s the law now, back when I was really in pos there were lots of bills trying to make it law, but it’s certainly industry practice to record serial numbers of high dollar items. The goal is to have a more precise and quick return/service process. You bought unit abcdef123456 and that means if they don’t get abcdef123456 back when you try to return it then there’s a problem.

So when I buy an ideapad at Walmart with cash they record the serial at time of sale and when I try to return a different one with my receipt there’s a serial number line that can be compared and verified.

That transaction is only stored by wal mart, but can be corroborated by my banks records where I withdrew enough money to buy a computer all at once in person because it’s more than they let me pull from an atm at one time.

I’ll go even farther:

Know your customer laws require that merchants verify and in some cases record ids of people making some purchases. So when I go to the wal mart to buy a cheap phone and a prepaid SIM card to stuff in my glovebox, they’re required to record my id for both purchases.

Now one thing that is true of apple computers and phones and that you might be referring to is that it’s super fucking difficult to remove a device from someone’s appleid without that person doing it for you. When you first use a mac or iPhone you have the chance to tie it to an iCloud account, just like you can with google accounts in android devices and Microsoft accounts on windows computers. If you do, then in order for someone else to reset the device and wipe/reinstall/take ownership of it you have to remove it from your account. Theres a wizard that guides you through the process just like in windows and android. If you never do this then the person who bought the device (or stole it, or dug it out of the trash) can’t use it.

If you lose your password then apple can verify your identity using their records (if you have their adp turned on then you just have to give em your code and make a new one when you’re done doing whatever you’re doing) and reset the password and remove devices from your account. Certified resellers/repair shops can do this too, but they’re under a lot of scrutiny when they do because Apple views them as possible cracks in the anti-theft armor.

So that means that when I dig a mac out of the trash to fix and use or sell, I have to either contact the iCloud account holder and convince them to drop the device from their profile or perform some decently tough microsoldering and reprogramming of tiny chips on the mainboard.

Of course, all that is optional. People just almost never choose not to do it because it is all upside and no downside for the owner. You as the computer owner get theft prevention, stolen device tracking and control over who can use things you bought in exchange for essentially nothing (especially if you turn on adp).

I haven’t read extreme privacy. I will as soon as I can, but I gotta ask: what are you trying to accomplish or understand? Sometimes for people who aren’t technical it’s easier to start from goals as opposed to metabolizing a bunch of literature on the topic.