It time.
Apple should just sanction an app for jail breaking.
Like clockwork, hackers said they've removed the digital locks in the latest version of Apple's iOS so it will run applications not officially sanctioned by the company. iOS 5 was unveiled on Monday, and a beta version was made available to a limited number of developers. Within hours, members of the iPhone Dev Team posted …
.....or they could continue the current game of cat and mouse. In the end the developments that come from it are good for all of us. I'm not saying that I agree that iDevices should be locked down, I don't think they should - I paid for the deive and i'll choose how to use it thaks very much. But security overall will improve faster when driven by need. The techniques developed / learnt as part of this silly game might be usefully employed elsewhere.
Sadly they obviously can't but with dedicated people, who can genuinely use the term "hacker" to describe what they do unlike these pain the arse script kiddies, we will always be able to use devices as useful tools.
I only want jailbreaking on iphone to allow tethering to my laptop, no way I am paying two tariffs on two devices just get some maps or local interest info when I am away from home. I don't want to rip off your precious apps or games, Mr Jobs, I just want to turn a smart device into an even smarter one.
Harken! Is that the rumble of Android and WinPho fanbois heading my way to beat their wisdom into me? I'd best be off...
Providers (telcos) lock you into their contract for x months/years to amortise the device. I have no objection against that, bar one: when I'm abroad. I don't agree with paying the equivalent of £0.60 per MB when a Pay-as-you-go O2 chip gives me unlimited for £1/day, so that is a direct argument for jail breaking.
That's lesson 1 of a walled garden: it is not usually focused on *your* benefit..
"That's lesson 1 of a walled garden: it is not usually focused on *your* benefit.."
So are you a masochist or what?
Obviously, Apple can eliminate jailbreaking, just like Motorola does with their Android phones. They don't.
They know that "if you really hate iOS you can jailbreak it" is a solid guerrilla marketing strategy. I wouldn't like my Droid Incredible nearly as much if I weren't able to install CM7 on it, but I knew from day one that it was an option.
Apple is about making money. What they do is make it hard enough that the majority (read the volume) doesn't bother, which works for them. Aside from that they set some budget aside to feed some lawyers, and that's as far as they will go. It is not profitable for Apple to get too agressive - also because iOS5 proves that the unlocked community comes up with good ideas too.
So no, I'm not masochistic. I know what I want from what I buy, and I research what I buy. That's also why I don't use a Droid - I know it gathers far more data off me than Apple, I don't like the UI and I don't like it forcing me to log into a Google account before apps work, especially the location features.
I pay for an allowance for my device from my provider and they only want me to use it with the piddly apps on the phone 'cos they know I will do so only in a dire emergency! Balls to that! I am not buying a separate dongle from the same provider so I can use my more useful laptop, all I have to do is jailbreak the phone and set up tethering. I get a phone and modem for my laptop, I still use the same data allowance and if the telco is really lucky I might use more and pay a premium if really need to.
"The same statute has been invoked in several high-stakes jailbreaking lawsuits involving Sony's PlayStation game console, which enjoys no such exemption."
As I understand it, the only reason no such exemption exists is that Sony settled out of court with Geohot, fearing that a judge might use the iPhone precedent to exempt the PS3 too?
The Limera1n hack is at the bootrom level - Apple can't patch it without releasing new hardware. Which is why the iPad2 isn't vulnerable to it. iOS5 was always going to be vulnerable, once it was installed on older hardware - including the iPhone4.
It's also possible to swipe your way through the protections in iOS5 and run it on phones not registered for the developer programme, but they don't work as phones if you do. Wifi only.
What Apple has fixed is the vulnerability that allowed an unteathered jailbreak on 4.3.3. So right now, the only jailbreak is the teathered one you mention in the article. Waiting on *that* is the only remaining cat and mouse game.