Is Apple losing the plot? I ask this because, having just read this bollocks (Apple wants to make jailbreaking illegal because it supposedly threatens our nation’s cellphone tower infrastructure, and thereby threatens our national security), I’ve read nothing but well-reasoned, anti-Apple invective. Come, let’s explore the phenomenon.
But first: what’s going on? The Electronic Frontier Foundation wants to make iPhone jailbreaking 100 percent legal. It’s your phone, so why can’t you install whatever the hell you want on it? No one tells you what software you can and cannot install on your PC, right? Exactly. Now, Apple doesn’t want jailbreaking to given any sort of legal blessing, because, well, Apple is Apple, and AT&T, its incompetent partner in crime, doesn’t know if it’s coming or going. Want to use Google Voice mobile? Oh, I bet you do, but The Man doesn’t want you to.
Anyhow, Apple wrote to the Copyright Office, and offered this explanation as to why jailbreaking should never be legalized:
…local or international hacker[s] could potentially initiate commands (such as a denial of service attack) that could crash the tower software, rendering the tower entirely inoperable to process calls or transmit data. Taking control of the BBP [baseband processor, which regulates connections between the phone and tower] software would be much the equivalent of getting inside the firewall of a corporate computer — to potentially catastrophic result. The technological protection measures were designed into the iPhone precisely to prevent these kinds of pernicious activities, and if granted, the jailbreaking exemption would open the door to them.
To quote MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, ha!
If the sheer ludicrousness of that statement isn’t apparent right now, then hopefully the following comments I’ve isolated will make things clear. The comments also show a very real strain of animosity pointed right at Cupertino. Combine that with AT&T’s recent foul-ups, and you do start to wonder if Apple is heading in the wrong direction.
The following are from the original Wired article. I think it’s safe to say Wired readers aren’t exactly the frothing-at-the-mouth-with-anger variety.
Then they’re broken. Fix the cell towers. I’d compare this to, say, SQL injection attacks. The solution isn’t to control the users, the solution is to fix the exploit where it exists: the cell tower.
***
Ok, let me see if I get this…
Legal jailbreaking would cause criminals/terrorists to crash things.
But… since when do criminals or terrorists really -care- about following the law? If it’s made illegal, they’ll still do it. It’s not like jailbreaking a phone and getting caught would, even if it were a crime, add that much to a sentence for terroristic activities.
It’s sort of like that part from Heavy Metal, with Captain Stearn. “…and one moving violation.”
***
If that were possible…wouldn’t it have happened by now?
***
Unfreaking believeable, Apple just confessed their iphones are a threat to National Security and fail to see the repercussions this could have on their business. If any of this is true then I suggest legislation to ban all iphones effective immediately, since iphones are a threat to national security. Legalizing jailbreaking or keeping it illegal doesn’t change the fact that iphones are not secure enough to prevent jailbreaking. So all of those precautions they claimed they took to prevent this from happening was a waste of time since it can be circumvented by anyone just by watching a youtube video.
***
well then Apple should make a proper phone at last..
trillion times more Nokias and other smartphones are being unlocked for years now..
and? no DoS attacks so far..
what’s the deal here?
Apple wants the laws to help it’s business?***
Let me get this straight… Keeping it ILLEGAL to jailbreak phones will dissuade terrorists and drug dealers from doing these horrible things that Apple claims could be done with their phones?
Really? So a terrorist who would bring down the Cell Phone towers, or a drug dealer who would sell heroin to children, is going to go, “Woah, dude… wait a minute… I’m not going to risk violating the DMCA!”
Apple Legal Team Fail.
***
What Apple *doesn’t* say, is:
- this scenario would require an “evil genius” hacker
- can be done with *any* smartphone, not just iPhone
- can be done with eval boards, bare ICs, hacked regular cellphonesIt’s a fairly common strategy to get what you want from tech-clueless regulators: create a nightmare scenario involving the issue you want them to address, then claim that the only way to prevent a catastrophe is to regulate as directed.
You would think the regulators would have learned by this time to look at these pleas for additional regulation witha bit more skepticism.
And the following comments come from Slashdot, which, again, I wouldn’t exactly call a bunch of wingnuts.
Worse, trusting the client is always an idiotic plan. Even if it isn’t iSteve’s precious baby, there will always be some phone(s) were the evil unauthorized users have access to the baseband(if nothing else, the people who design phones have to have the baseband interface specs, and I’m sure that sort of thing gets lost/dumpster dived/hacked/inside-jobbed from time to time). Solving cell tower security issues by trying to lock every handset would be like trying to make the internet safe by making Symantec Endpoint Security mandatory for all devices with public IPs.
This is just Apple wrapping themselves in the “Security” blanket to get what they want. Should we expect a series of PSAs about how iPhone jailbreaking aids the terrorists?
***
What Apple is saying is wrong. Everybody with any knowledge of the system knows it’s wrong; even if cell towers were susceptible, jailbreaking doesn’t touch the baseband software on the phone. Yet they make the claim anyway, knowing it’s false, presumably because they’re hoping nobody involved in this process at the Copyright Office has the technical knowledge to know it’s BS. Let’s call this what it is: it’s a lie.
Shouldn’t there be some sort of consequences for just lying in a process like this? I know in courts there is perjury, for lying under oath, but what legal consequences are there for lying in this kind of situation?
***
Instead of locking the whole thing down, just lock down the baseband processor. That way people who want to run their own apps can do so without having to jailbreak anything, and the baseband processor won’t have any attention given to it. But of course this would still be a problem with AT&T, who provides the connectivity.
***
We all know the deal. If I wanted to compromise said cellular network, I could use the current published, freely, and openly available jailbreaking techniques. If they legalize jailbreaking of the phones, it is not going to legalize hacking cellphone towers, so the people that are going to do it are already trying. This is just a another preemptive strike by Apple. They are going to lose credibility, because too much press in a short ammount of time for a company can be just as bad as flying under the wire. I think it is time they slip back into the ether and keep quiet for a few weeks.
***
This is IDIOTIC. How can any reasonable person possibly buy this argument.
Anyone that wants to bring down a cell phone tower or cell network IS NOT GOING TO CARE whether or not it’s LEGAL to screw with the cell radio baseband software. They are ALREADY attempting to do something much worse.
Let’s be honest here, the “security” aspect of this argument is a smokescreen. It’s blatantly all about the profit!
Furthermore, the cellular network should NOT be so fragile that a single rogue cell phone could take it down (AFAIK it is not). BUT if AT&T is truly insistent on making this argument, then I believe a full investigation by the FCC is mandated. The self-admitted fragile state of their network means that their stewardship of a public resource (radio spectrum) is being poorly managed and truly endangering national security.
Now, I understand this small, statistically insignificant sample doesn’t really represent anything, but it is interesting to see some people beginning to question Almighty Apple.
And I type this on a MacBook, so don’t I’m Mr. Anti-Apple. This is all make-believe to me.
I think its pretty widely accepted that this most recent claim is a crock of bullshit. However the positive news is it seems the internet has finally piped up and decided to loudly call out Apple on their bullshit.
Frankly I think people would have let this slide a bit more if a shit load of bloggers and cell phone geeks weren’t recently angered by the google voice slap in the face.
Well said Nicholas.
Look, if they’re THAT worried about the BBP being “misused”, then create a BBP chip that cannot be hacked through software. Hardcode some freakin parameters into the circuitry so the controlling software cannot issue DOS-like attacks onto the tower.
Then leave the rest of the OS alone.
Its not rocket science.
Yeah, but who’s going to call out the internet on its bullshit?
I firmly suspect that 95% of the people who want unlocked iPhones on which they can install their own applications in actually want to do it so they can easily install torrented applications on their phones.
People bought the phone knowing apps came from the app store, and only the app store. That’s how it works.
So the only real freedom being restricted at the moment is the freedom to steal.
I’d guess that figure is way less than 95%. Infact until your post prompted me to browse a torrent site I didn’t know you could get ‘cracked apps’ for the iPhone/touch.
There are loads of cool legal apps available on jailbroken iPhones!
Needless to say, I hope for the sake of the app store developers that Apple wins this one.
I didn’t even know there where pirated iphone apps, I use Cydia and Icy to get all my jailbroken apps, all perfectly legal. I’m guessing that’s what most jailbroken iphones are being used for as well.
@Michael Long: The whole idea of Jailbreaking the OS is not to steal the apps, but rather to allow apps that were declined or are restricted by Apple. As a Blackberry user, there are multiple app stores I can download from. However, most apps are tied to a BlackBerry pin and each unlock code is specific to that pin. Apple just chooses to keep everything for themselves.
BTW, what really bugs me about the iPhone is that it can’t be unlocked without a flashing the baseband. If I buy a phone, I’d like to use it after I switch services. The iPhone is a disposable device because after you’re done with it, you simply throw it away.
just sold my apple stock. I’m losing faith in the company.
The Apple empire is undoubtedly going down, together with Intel and Microsoft.
yeah. intel, microsoft and apple will go down. When everyone stops buying computers…………
we can start using our hand to do calculation
we all know that is coming next year – year of the linux
oh wait…
Apple has become MS and thinks that they can’t survive by simply building a product that people will want to buy.
Isn’t that exactly how companies work and become sucessful? by ‘Just’ producing a product that people want to buy. Companies which actually make money (by selling products) tend to be sucessful genius
I thought Apple was always like that – going after the competition via any means. Of course this one looks ridiculously ridiculous.
The claims are of course total bullshit that defies plain logic. The point is that apple keeps acting as if it owns their customers – and that to many markets is illegal. If regulation doesn’t come from the US, it will definately come from the european commission when the iphone hits critical mass in europe
Don’t underestimate the number of people who are pissed off at Apple right now. I am canceling with AT&T and abandoning Apple as soon as possible. -written from iPhone
Yeh sure you are.
lol I am.
I’ll believe it when I see photographic proof
The photographic proof would just be ’shopped. And I’d know, I’ve seen quite a few shops in my time….
Well, I am Mr. Anti-Apple, and of all the crap Apple has pulled over the years, I can’t fathom why THIS is the one that upsets people. This is really no different than when they originally claimed they couldn’t provide an SDK, because people installing whatever apps they wanted could bring down the network.
word.
The frequency of apple bs is on the rise, so more people are likely to not forget the previous bs while playing on they ishit.
Anti-Apple also +1
” because people installing whatever apps they wanted could bring down the network.”
wait so they’ve used this reasoning before?????!!!! sh*t. i was about to give that 45 page pdf a chance because i wanted to torture myself but also get a good laugh, and now i don’t think i will be reading that right now (maybe later)…have they used this reasoning more than a couple times? anyone speak apple-legal?
I’m a fan of Apple, but they’ve been really pushing somebuttons lately. This latest bit is a bunch of crock. How is jailbreaking the iphone a case for national security. It’s like something George Bush would say to Congress to get them to start wars. Has Steve Jobs gone that low? I’d be embarrassed if I were Steve Jobs right now. http://ziggytek.com/
You would also have a net worth of 3.4 billion which to me means its pretty damn hard to be embarrassed.
A tool, yes. Embarrassed, no.
“A tool, yes. Embarrassed, no.”
lol!
er… its not illegal to jailbreak your phone in the first place, so its a mute point.
ps jailbreaking was always a stupid name for it and bound to bite back at some point.
You didn’t actually read the article, did you?
lol. it shows right.
actually if i was an apple fan, although noticing that the apple legal team is trying to force an issue by being preemptive and hoping that no one actually understand anything, i would give apple a hand for trying to protect their apple store and the developers they work with…but this is complete bs and even if there are good intentions behind this (which i doubt) i think they did themselves a disservice. i’m going to read the legal doc and maybe it’ll shed some light on why people are paid to be stupid. i mean i can be hired for no money if that’s the qualification.
Gimme a break. You guys are all jealous hypocrites. How much no one said anything about Apple being evil when community found out about the “kill switch” on their iPhone? Why I said jealous? Because you guys are.
What?
Apple actually remotely bricked iphones when you performed a firmware update through itunes and it detected that you had jailbroken it or tried to unlock it.
I’ve always warned people on how crappy apple and the iphone is since it was rumored in 2006.
they didn’t “remotely brick iphones” they put something in the code that would brick your iPhone if it was jailbroked….. big difference.
and how can you warn people of a rumored product? thats just dumb!
I am however very, very pissed at the shit they pulled this time around. they went too far!
Is it less evil? An update bricked phones….
They didn’t put anything in an update that would intentionally brick anyone’s phone. As someone’s whose had an unlocked 2G iPhone for nearly 2 years now, I WOULD KNOW!
Charbax, how many times do I have to call you on this BS? Are you incapable of rationalization or what?
lol. i just read that and realized he/she said the same thing in the iphone at&fail threads and was debunked. sheesh. people are such ***** sometimes.
Love it! Everyone hates Microsoft but if Microsoft behaved like Apple, Redmond would have been burned to ashes by now.
Good ole fan boy hipocracy
EXACTLY what I wrote in a blog post titles Enough With Apple Dictatorship yesterday: http://www.iphonedownloadblog.com/2009/07/28/enough-with-apple-dictatorship/
No, what MS tried to do was creating a monopoly through IE and control the Internet through it. Apple may be displaying monopolistic tendencies but it’s never traveled further than their own backyard. I would love to see the EU investigate them and only time will tell.
I love reading these daily articles on TechCrunch attacking AT&T. It’s well deserved. The day Apple stops signing these BS exclusivity deals will be a great day.
AMEN.
I’ve been saying it for years — Apple is far worse than Microsoft ever was. But everyone wanted to keep drinking the Apple marketing machine’s Kool-Aid.
cuz Kool-Aid rocks dude!
Apple Cider dude, cool and refreshing!
Far worse than Microsoft ever was? I agree that Apple’s actions have been nothing short of reprehensible… but get a sense of scale here, please. When they have abused a monopoly to squash entire markets/companies and restrict consumer choice, then you can say they are as bad. Until then, it’s groundless knee-jerk hyperbole.
But they have, in the only market they have ever had a monopoly in, the dedicated MP3 player and digital music distribution business. iTunes easily has a “dominant position” in the digital music distribution business, and improperly using USB identification codes to block competitor’s devices from connecting to your service, in order to force users of your service to buy your hardware, is a perfect example of what you are describing.
Apples and oranges, but Microsoft never built an OS that only allowed you to buy software through the Microsoft Store, and then used that store to prevent you from installing any software they saw as competition, and THEN tried to make it illegal to alter your computer so you could buy software without them taking a cut.
Microsoft is no angel, to be sure. Their DRM system in vista IS approaching that level of anti-consumer behavior, but it’s not as bad as the iPhone.
Abused a monopoly to squash entire markets/companies…. check.
Restrict consumer choice… check.
Based on your prerequisites, it looks like Apple is as bad as MS.
Yup, I agree. To compare Apple and MS, as companies not innovation, just look at their respective high profile founders. Jobs vs Gates, especially all the charity work that Gates has been doing lately with his foundation.
that is absolutely right on. What makes it worse is that when MS DID pull this stunt, Apple was one of the first companies to cry foul.
Now that THEY have the opportunity to act in a monopolistic and totalitarian fashion, they have seized on it in the worst way possible.
Its always amazed me that Apple (and the iphone community) would say that even though the product is no longer Apple’s once purchased by the consumer, some how apple still maintains the right to control it. Its like someone selling you a condo, then retaining the right to tell you where you can shop for furniture, and what pieces you are allowed to see.
Sounds like someone hasn’t read the United States V Microsoft case. Apple has never has 90%+ market share of anything. It’s hard to abuse a monopoly you don’t have!
I agree, and even though I don’t like the control Apple has on the iPhone, there’s always another smart phone I can get.
Yes, and that someone would be you.
Monopoly was never defined in that case as 90% marketshare. They defined it as having a dominant market position, which could mean anything over 51% of the market. Microsoft didn’t even HAVE 90% of the market when that case started in ‘93!
I don’t think anyone would argue that iTunes has a “dominant market position” in the digital music distribution market, or that the iPod has a “dominant market position” in the dedicated MP3 player market.
It all depends on definitions. It is arguable that the iphone is so revolutionary that it represents a different class of phone to other smart phones. It is certain that for a couple of years there was nothing that could touch it. If you wanted a phone of a certain power that had ready access to so many useful apps you would be forced to choose the iphone even if you thought Steve Jobs was the antichrist. And as Apple is the only company that produced the iphone they had 100% control over it. Those who wanted it were forced to use AT&T in the States and o2 in England. They were told what to do with their phones and they were forced to goose step around shouting pro apple slogans. After giving such a large part of there lives to the support of evil they are still being made targets for every little whim of the UberJobs. If he gets out of bed on the wrong side he releases an update that burns off someone’s ears just so that he can sit back and laugh about his captive audience of sheep who would collapse into a trembling quivering mess if they were forced to use Symbian or Android.
totally agree that this is a BS move on Apple’s part. They failed to secure the device and now want legal protection? What about all the unlocked Windows Mobile, Android, Nokia S60/Symbian devices etc out there?!
On an unrelated topic – one of blog etiquette… it’s great that the article exists and raises the point, but lifting quotes from posters on Wired and Slashdot without any attributation… is that right and proper?
It’s Techcrunch trying to take over all blogging on iPhone snafus and not crediting anyone else. They’re tryin to become a monopoly! :-)
nobody values comments, but i only read TC for the comments
That’s because TC commenters have more technical knowledge and research behind them, than the actual TC “writers”.
Completely not the same. However the idea that terrorists will be concerned with violating Apple’s rights reminds me a little of “”You’ll have to answer to the Coca-Cola company”
Watch it on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUAK7t3Lf8s
Ultimately, AT&T is the root of the problem.
Keep on drinking the Kool-Aid….
No ULTIMATELY it was APPLE that signed an exclusive contract to ATT&T…
So ULTIMATELY it is APPLE.
If you’re going to say ultimately, then say something like “capitalism is the ultimately root of the problem”
It sounds to me like WAAAY to many people on TC have ULTIMATELY got their undies in a bundle. Relax Dudes, no worries.
how do you know tc commenters wear undies?
anyways it’s both at&fail and apples fault, but i guess it’s interesting to see at&t standing up for itself and pointing the finger right back to the core of the problem. i mean if apple doesn’t want to be with st&fail then they don’t have to. people thought verizon was bad…and now this…i guess the future carrier has no chance. i agree with ending exclusitivity. it’s all a learning experience though…hopefully.
and it’s completely ironic that at&fail is pointing things right back to apple’s corner when at&fail is also at the core of the disaster.
“core” was referring back to previous article and a play on words.
@hybrid-kernel: well, yes of f*cking course capitalism is the root of the problem. because people here talking about the “tyranny” of a company, which is supposed to be making money SERVING people and which produces items that have no vital importance in a person’s life.
did it ever occur to anyone that it’s purely optional to use low-quality gimmicky toys that don’t wholly belong to the consumer even after they’re being PAID FOR?
‘Heading’ in the wrong direction?! As far as I’m concerned, based on their behaviour, they’re so far gone in the wrong direction & have been for so long, they can’t even see the way back!
I used to have a pretty rosy image of Apple…until I actually bacame one of their customers and got treated with such utter disdain, unlike anything I’ve ever experienced…
It’s refreshing to finally start seeing some honest opinions of them. I suspect this small, statistically insignificant sample, is the tip of an iceberg, due to many normal users (like myself) usually refraining from vocal comment in fear of the hostility of the Apple koolaid drinking zealot & apologist variety of users.
The hypocrisy is particularly galling, after the way they’ve cried foul against Microsoft so vocally & for so long over the years…but themselves now behave more unfairly than anyone – even to the point of trying to manipulate laws to quash competition & true free market forces. Talk about dirty tricks to turn a buck!
yep, but consider this: AT&T subsidizes Iphone, and will they let you bypass his voice network? So the deal with apple my be: Ok, I’ll buy you a trillion iPhones on advance, and I’ll sell it to my customers at ridiculous price, but you will ban ANY app who will prevent me for charge him money. Sounds fair. Apple should remove this ban for unlocked iphones, and everyone will be happy. Do you want Google Voice? buy a non subsidize iPhone, and use it on any net you like.
The root of the problem is that by AT&T having any relation to Apple, they effectively control the world’s applications on the app store. If a carrier had the ability to say what apps would run on their networks, and everyone else could still get that app, then everyone else would be fine.
So.. the entire cell tower systems relies on the iphone capability of not being jailbreaked? haha.. so a 23 year old kid with enough time could overpass the security of the entire cell tower system? good work apple!
yep this is silly :-)
Not the first nor the last dick move by Apple. And yet, in a few days we’ll have all forgotten this little transgression and queue back up at Fanboy Inc.
Right. This is hilarious to watch as an Australian. We’re rolling in iPhone goodness over here – our 3G networks are some of the best you can find, they aren’t overloaded, we get awesome data plans, there’s pretty good coverage to most of the population (If you’re on Telstra, you only drop out when you’re on a road going through desert), and they’re fast.
We have 4 carriers with iPhone deals here, which keeps prices at a great point.
I’m on a $39 a month plan with $34 of calls/texts with 100 free texts also bundled in. I get 500MB of data, which lasts me perfectly (I only ever use 300MB a month and I do use the net a lot), and I can pay an extra $9.99 a month for 200MB of data extra as well as tethering. My carrier (Optus) unlocked my iPhone on request, and I paid $72 a month over 12 months for the phone + plan.
I’m upgrading my plan whan I get a 3GS, to a $59 per month plan with unlimted text and like $300 of value or something like that. It’s a 12 month contract, and I pay like $20 per month for the phone (16GB).
I’m pretty sure that jailbreaking the iPhone in Australia is legal too, given that magazines carry articles about how to do it (although it voids your warranty). So, I know this is pretty much a brag post, but still, apart from not having Visual Voicemail, Australia would have to be the best place in the world to have an iPhone.
You must not have read the articles here about Australia and how bad the iPhone plans are…
Wait, sorry. That was NZ.
Throw some shrimp on the barby and pop open a Fosters mate!
Like (or is it just simply “Thanks”?) thanks for telling us controlled capitalism is expensive and “purer” capitalism is cheaper?
I’d suggest as an Austrlian, the only reason it’s “legal” is because Apple doesn’t care about the statistically insignificant population here. When looking at “chipping” consoles, the country is constantly flip-flopping the legality.
I would expect that in fact it’s not legal here – just as it’s not legal to use an imported phone – any modification means it hasn’t been verified by our communications board. It’s not “illegal” because no one has pressed the matter.
Come now if you all stop using the iphones I won’t be able to harvest cc numbers from them.
Innerfence App + Iphone snaps a screenshot of your most recent action and stores it temp cache = Eastern European spending spree
how exactly is that harvesting cc numbers?
I’m an Apple fanboy, was a GoOgle fanboy awhile, and Windoze, and [remember them?] IBM PS2… ashes to ashes. Companies do not make good spouses. Something else’ll come along.
Are these the same guys who sold “Black boxes” in high school to break into AT$T networks for free calls?-the ‘love affair” continues- i agree if the towers are that insecure some one should look into it.
RFjobs.com
I bet all those jailbroken iphones will feel pretty uselsess when they find out that terrosism is, in fact, illegal.
Many people miss the point of what’s is being determined between Apple & the EFF.
No cell phone manufacturer or cell phone OS exposes the baseband firmware, primarily because it is illegal to do so. Not Android, not OpenMoko, or any other cell phone manufacturer.
Jailbreaking allows access to the baseband firmware, which, by law cannot be accessible to users.
Jailbreaking forces Apple to at least show they tried to prevent it or risk liability. They tried to use the DMCA to enforce, and the EFF jumped all over it.
This has absolutely nothing to do with an “open” operating system, or “open” app store or “closed” anything.
It has everything to do with the FTC.
Not one article quoted a source in the cell phone industry, an engineer, the law, or the FTC – much less differentiated unlocking, jailbreaking or explain what was really going on.
Can’t they somehow lock the baseband firmware, via a hardware chip of some kind?
For example you can have full control of a PC as far as operating system and applications go, but if you don’t have the bios password you can’t change it’s settings (or flash it).
IF that is true, and I doubt that “Jailbreaking allows access to the baseband firmware” anymore than hacking the firmware of any other phone does, but IF it is true, then that is a huge design flaw on Apple’s part, not a legal issue. IF, what you say is true, and somehow Window Mobile, Android, Symbian and Linux phones can all be hacked and have custom firmware put on them, without ever “allowing access” to the baseband firmware, then the entire problem can be solved by Apple just hiring someone who knows something about security, to bring the phone up to the same spec as the rest of the industry.
However, in reality, this is a complete red herring, to get legal protection for Apple’s desire for draconian control of their platform. Every phone on the market has had it’s firmware hacked, none more than Windows Mobile, and it has never caused a national security emergency.
wouldn’t you think that if all the other companies were as concerned as apple they would all be speaking up about this or backing apple…or will we just see the apocalypse when it happens. i mean if this was an issue wouldn’t MS be all over this…or are they waiting for apple to make their concerns known first before everyone else falls into the ditch. not only does this look bad for apple, but if it was true the US would be in some big doodoo. so who’s the stupid one here because i thought this whole legal thing was a big bunch of garbage.
Worst comment ever
Apple not wanting users to jailbreak(liberate) their phones is not a sustainable practice. Apple may not want to draw too much light to this topic at all. Users of extremely expensive computers install which ever software they wish all the time. Compared to the cost of Apple’s other hardware, a top end iPhone is nearly disposable. Why such concern for something so replaceable and utter disregard for nearly $5K+ computers (monitor not included). The argument that cell towers are somehow protected when jailbreaking is prohibited, does not add up. Google Voice is only one of several applications that run perfectly well on other cell phones, same network, though Apple won’t allow them on the iPhone. A favorite justification for Apple is the duplication of functionality. Users should be the sole arbiters of what should and should not be installed on technology they own, other than instances of actual legality.
Given Apple’s lock on the iPhone and its dominance, it wouldn’t be hard to construe Apple’s, ‘we already provide that’ as anticompetitive. iPhones are more computer than they are phones and thus clearly should have the same lack of restrictions applied to them as computers. Apple must be made to understand that iPhones are purchased, and not leased or rented. Apple, not wanting to repair or update functionality on phones that have been jailbroken, should be held as breach of contract. If the phone is of a current generation and all repair and services agreements at the time of purchase have not expired, Apple should be forced to honor those contracts. The only true issue with a jailbroken phone is that someone is running software that Apple does not approve of. Apple doesn’t have the right to approve or not any application and they can’t give themselves the right either. It’s only true and real obligation is to make great products and make them available at reasonable or not prices. Apple is clearly off base, but I am confident the courts at some point will right the Cupertino ship.
wonder what MG’s take on this is?
Apple is showing their true colors as a company…
But what do you expect, at the end of the day its a multi-billion dollar company, and companies don’t get to that size by “not being evil”…
Microsoft, Google, Apple, ATT, Verizon, all major companies do Evil…
It used to be the law that companies had to be evil. Now, in England at least, it is the law that they should be evil but if possible try not to look evil.
I’m impressed how many people post their opinions on this without thinking through it.
Of course a hacker does NOT care whether jailbreaking is legal or not, and of course the hacker’s phone can’t crash the tower – but that’s not the point.
The point is: If tenths of MILLION people install a jailbreaked OS on their phone, and this OS contains malicious code that could be activated remotely, e.g. through a push msg or by a timer, then this could very well be a potential way to initiate denial of service attacks.
Bingo.
Yeah up there for thinking. But you failed at making your own point.
If Apple allowed you to install your own software without going through the ap store then there would be no need to down load dodgy malware infected unlock code. Make it legal, make Apple facilitate and your scenario falls in a heap.
“But, but if iPhone users could down load just an software then they could down load malware!” I hear you retort.
Well yes iPhone users would need to be able to make judgements on whether or not to trust an app all by themselves without our Lord Jobs’ helping hand. And sure idiots will be idiots, I cant deny some will download maleware. But unless you want to go an argue that iPhone users are in general idiots…
Maybe I better stop there.
Yeah, except that the hundreds of millions of Symbian users have never caused any problem like this, nor have the 30+ million BlackBerry users, nor the 15+ million Windows Mobile users, so why is the network somehow especially vulnerable to the 11 million iPhone users?
I know it is hard for people who went straight from a RAZR to an iPhone to understand , but phones that let you install arbitrary software have been around for more than a decade, and have been selling in the tens of millions for years before the iPhone came out. Not once has a corrupt piece of code, or malicious software, ever taken down the cellular network. It is a BS argument that Apple forwards as nothing more than a justification to keep their product a walled garden.
Apple next claim: A2DP could destroy Virgin records and erase all songs everywhere.
You’d think that Apple was roasting children on a spit and selling them to the Chinese with all this vitriolic rancor.
They don’t?
Oh yes good argument. Apple isn’t doing the worst thing you can think of, so anything they do, that is not that bad, like lying to a court to, is ok.
yeah but we know the legal system is also corrupt. i think these lawyers are just doing what they are told for the $$$. it’s nice being a lawyer. i want to be that one day but i don’t want to have to sell my soul. moral nowadays is dead anyways. i am not surprised tech companies have gone the evil route. $$$ talks everwhere in this world.
I have to at least agree with some of what Apple is saying. Having done embedded baseband processor development, a rogue device could definitely bring down a single tower quite easily. The mobile device and tower operate in a very tight feedback loop that regulates everything from different multiplexing factors (time slices, frequencies, coding patterns) as well as power controls. A single device not obeying these rules will easily render the tower inoperable. Whether a rogue device could crash the tower, that would be due to faulty tower coding but since towers have always trusted the devices on their networks, I don’t believe they have been thoroughly locked down.
This is also why every device receives a significant amount of testing to verify it conforms to all these parameters and behaves as a good citizen before being released onto the network. The amount of network testing a single device goes through is quite impressive including compatibility testing with every single provider of tower software/equipment.
WiMAX.
WiMAX.
WiMAX.
WiMAX and all these cancer-making, landscape destroying, technology blocking cell towers will be a thing of the past – tagged along with the unimaginable, zero transparency greedy plans we all need to subscribe to.
“… and all these cancer-making, landscape destroying, technology blocking cell towers…”
Will be replaced by all those cancer-making, landscape destroying, technology blocking WiMAX towers.
What do you think WiMAX runs on? Magic?
Hahaha, yeap, just another form of radiation Mr. Green.
Wrong. Wifi bands are less likely to cause cancer than normal sunlight. the “Wi” stands for “wide” as in “wide wavelength” as in “not as energenic as short wavelengths”. As in “won’t actually cook you”.
The relation of low life expectancy to proximity to cell towers and powerlines is correlative, not causative. People who live in those areas tend to be poor, because those things decrease property value, or are built in places with low property values. Poor people are less healthy because they can’t afford to eat as healthily or visit the doctor as regularly. That sucks, but it isn’t caused by “radiation”. Especially radiation weaker than light.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=78507414504&ref=search
There is a legitimate need to lock down the baseband processor on software radios. The “no user-serviceable parts inside” caveat applies. Opening up this to consumers allows the baseband radio to be operated outside FCC or other regulatory specifications. Any transmitting device can easily become a radio jammer.
Grow up everyone – business is business – having a moral base simply has no meaning – its all about survival and they do what they think they need to do to perceived threats – but the yoyo-ing between Apple love and now Apple hate, well, thats just a well taught tabloid trick you’ve all subliminally succumbed to.
Build ‘em up and knock ‘em down!
+1
They’d make much more money but robbing everyone at gun point, business is business.
Lying to consumers and regulatory committees falls outside of “business”. Sorry.
true. you just pointed out why i shouldn’t be interested in this. i’m being manipulated. it’s a publicity stunt.
lol. moral & business do not go hand in hand, and apple has a right to protect itself…which makes you think that other companies would support apple’s same line of reasoning.
this legal document is bs. people are breaking laws left right and center, legal or otherwise. they should have paid the lawyers more money to have said this a different way.
its not that apple is doing that or that they suck or whatever its the fact that these days, it seems like everything is being illegalized. free country, huh?
just go with the flow and as sad as it is, people will still jailbreak them anyway. not like apple can go to your house and check you.
apple sucks.
mac sucks.
you all suck.
sorry i havent read all the comments, but i have to assume im not the first person to say, ” the app store is a monopoly and will always be a monopoly thankyou very much” is the basic reason why apple dont want people to be able to install other apps.
what do you think about the large potential of users using “jailbreak” methods that can be “compromised” that would lead to tower failures.
I used to love Apple – now they make me feel dirty :(
It’s because you have touched a Mac…
With the rich features that I get from Iphone I often forget that PC has no restrictions on what to install. However the need for restrictions on Iphone is purely commercial so, ’stop Bullshitting Apple’. Apple and PC sound more like Repubs and Dems. We need an ORANGE(MR. Independent!)
Posted by: Kane | 07/28/09 | 8:37 pm
Will iPhones suddenly become the device of choice for would-be infrastructure terrorists? And its not just local terrorists. I like how Apple raise the specter of “international” hackers initiating catastrophic cell tower commands from their jail broken iPhones — its amazing that they can get such good reception from their caves in Afghanistan or wherever all the terrorists hang out these days.
i don’t think the iphone is the terrorist’s phone of choice. amazingly they have all kinds of tech in impovrished countries and in the caves these “freedom” fighters inhabit…-_-
What I find deliciously ironic is that Jobs and Wozniak used to build blue boxes to rip off Ma Bell.
Oh how times have changed. Now they’re complicit with the great monopoly with terrible service in BECOMING the man, man!
Woz jailbroke Kathy Griffin’s cell phone for her on TV!.
Woz is not the problem. He’s still a cool guy =)
Apple: “…local or international hacker[s] could potentially initiate commands (such as a denial of service attack) that could crash the tower software, rendering the tower entirely inoperable to process calls or transmit data. Taking control of the BBP [baseband processor, which regulates connections between the phone and tower] software would be much the equivalent of getting inside the firewall of a corporate computer — to potentially catastrophic result.”
Terrorists: “Cool, thanks for the ideas!”
Seriously though, Apple is sounding like the Bush administration lobbying for war in Iraq: “We can’t let the smoking gun be a mushroom cloud.”
Instilling fear by means of a worst case scenario is a sure-fire way to get people to do what you want.
From now onwards if anyone asks me what is FUD I will point him/her to Apple’s claims in the linked Wired article.
i can’t believe what i just read…i got through the first paragraph and i’m going to read the original wired article before commenting further. i’m surprised, but not really after reading the previous apple and at&t threads where so many people were saying jailbreak the phone and get around the at&fail carrier to another service.
hahahaa. just finshed reading that quote from the apple letter. ahahaaaa. omg. they are really serious right. well they are a business too so i guess i have to try and understand them…right after i finish laughing, which won’t be anytime soon.
I can tell you as much as I love my iPhone I WON’T BE buying another or really any Apple product now because of the way they have been doing things lately. First the visual voicemail is broken, then texts are delayed, then they wouldn’t let the Google Voice app, the Slingplayer app, and now these lies. I really hate AT&T and Apple right now. I’ll take my money elsewhere… where I can do what I want with it.
I know the network problems are NOT Apple. The issue is though that Apple is aware of the problems AT&T has and yet they don’t crack down on them. Why aren’t the other carriers around the world having these issues?
Oh yeah because they aren’t a shitty service like AT&T.
What about my jailbroken iPod Touch 2G, Is that gonnabe a National Security Threat. i mean it ISNT even a PHONE, this is CRAZy
thes are my favourite parts from the wired post:
‘The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 says “no person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title.” But under the law, every three years the Librarian of Congress and the Copyright Office must consider the public’s requests for exemptions to that anti-circumvention language.
Apple also claimed that jailbreaking would pave the way for hackers to alter the Exclusive Chip Identification number that identified the phone to the cell tower, which could enable calls to be made anonymously. Apple said “this would be desirable to drug dealers.”’
it’s good to know people has a voice, apple is trying to protect itself (despite the stupid language) and that is good for i guess it’s investors although i don’t agree with the “closed” concept, and BEST of all: Apple IS Looking OUT for YOU the customer. people fail to realize that national security is at risk, and apple will be at the fore trying to convince the law to work for you. what a bunch of BS. lol. apple iphone users apparently are law breakers, a threat to national security, and drug dealers. who knew apple was so well versed in pissing off customers. i thought everyone was on the bandwagon. don’t get me wrong i like apple enough…mostly the designers, but i’m disappointed.
*these
What are you all wasting your time with?
I think there is one comment here from someone who may know about cell towers and their baseband processors.
Apple are covering themselves against liability. They may also benefit commercially from this. They would be stupid and negligent not to do this. If you were in a responsible position in Apple and didn’t do this, you would be sacked.