Apple bans hackers from App Store

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10454364-93.html?tag=TOCmoreStories.0

by jmtame • 16 years ago

50 27 16 years ago

news.cnet.com

jmtame2• 16 years ago

pasted from BigBoss on Cydia:

This warning applies to owners of 3GS iPod touch 3 iPod touch 2 with serial MC Any 3g unlockers

iPhone OS 3.1.3 is now out from Apple. Supposedly it fixes some very rare battery reporting issues on 3gs devices with a specific problem (It does not make your battery last longer). There are no new features. The release only stops jailbreaks. That's right. No new features.

DO NOT UPDATE YOU WILL BE SORRY.

Currently there is no jailbreak for this firmware. Unofficial sources have confirmed that they have patched up the method we used to jailbreak 3.1.2 so you will not be able to jailbreak. If you update you will lose all your jailbreak apps and will not be able to get them back. In other words, updating means you lose a lot of stuff in return for almost nothing back. In addition, there is no ETA on a jailbreak for 3.1.3. It may never be jailbroken. It is likely that they (dev team, geohot) will not waste another hole on 3.1.3. They will most likely hold it for the bigger update that will come with the release of the iPad and iPhone 4.0. Unlockers - you cannot unlock the new baseband. This would apply to those 3g users that can jailbreak 3g. If you update, you will not be able to unlock.

To summarize: - Update adds NO NEW FEATURES, do not update.

mortenjorck• 16 years ago

Other hackers have also reported that their Apple IDs have been banned. It seems that this action of Apple's is merely a warning, as these hackers can always just create another Apple ID and access the App Store that way. It would be a lot harsher if Apple decided to ban their devices.

Your App Store purchases are locked to your Apple ID via FairPlay DRM, right? While indeed less serious than a device ban, that puts all your existing apps (or other non-music purchases) in a pretty uncertain state.

kidko• 16 years ago

Jailbreaking allows the installation of cracked apps, which basically makes the App Store DRM a non-issue.

kevingadd• 16 years ago

Only if you're okay with breaking the law* and standing on ethically questionable ground* just to use an app that you bought.

If your ISP gets a DMCA notice because you were downloading a cracked version of an app that you already own, do you think they're going to accept the explanation that 'it's okay, I already own it'? What about in the context of some of the proposed 'three strikes' laws? Nasty potential minefield.

* Depending on interpretation, of course.

sonpo• 16 years ago

I'm far from taking sides, but I am surprised it took Apple so long to start this type of banning. I am not sure how it benefits Apple in the long run, but I am sure that if the App Store were my business I probably would have done this. And sooner.

jmtame2• 16 years ago

why would you bother if you're unsure it would even help in the long run?

i see it as a net loss for apple. you're not going to deter whatever "deviant" behavior you think exists on current jailbroken iphones, whatever that may be. if people want to download free apps, they're going to do it. if anything, i'd think you're hurting your image by turning against hackers like this.

will apple recover any lost profit because they paid their own engineers to build these fixes? who knows, all i know is that another jailbreak will be available soon. people who want to control their own devices will find a way to do it.

sjs3• 16 years ago

Things like the 3.1.3 update are precisely why my next phone will run Android, not iPhone OS.

yumraj• 16 years ago

Does anyone know why Apple has not invoked DMCA against jailbreaking? Is it because DMCA does not cover how the jailbreak hacks work or is it something else.

I don't know much about the inner workings of jailbreak, nor have an iPhone, but given the way Apple protects its IP, I'm really curious.

sjs3• 16 years ago

Apple can serve DMCA notices till they're blue in the face. Outside the US people will just laugh them off.

Not to mention that if they start prosecuting their customers that's terrible PR, and the ones most likely to jailbreak are the ones recommending iPhones to their friends and family (i.e. the technically inclined), and also the ones who would make a huge fuss about it. It really would do them no good at all.

GHFigs• 16 years ago

Does anyone know why Apple has not invoked DMCA against jailbreaking?

They have, where the DMCA is applicable. The thing is, contrary to popular belief, the DMCA does not give them any sort of right to sue an individual for the act of jailbreaking itself. It is, after all, your phone. But it does come into play when people distribute the hacks to do so, as they involve breaking Apple's copy protections for the express purpose of modifying Apple's copyrighted firmware.

By analogy: A publisher does not have the right to stop you from cutting up a book and re-arranging the pages, but they do have the right to stop you from distributing such a book, even in modified form.

jrockway• 16 years ago

Why do people bother with iPhones? Seems like that in the time it takes to find exploits, you could just fix all the parts of Android you don't like instead.

theBobMcCormick2• 16 years ago

Completely agree. Apple is becoming more and more user unfriendly. Why pay for that kind of abuse?

blasdel2• 16 years ago

Because the abuse is precisely what makes the ecosystem as user-friendly as it is. They want any iPhone user to be able to pick up your iPhone and have it behave the way they expect. They don't want users to be scared of them the way they are of their PCs. They don't want the massive fragmentation present on Android. They don't want all the coolest software that would otherwise be AppStore-friendly coming out via user-hostile ad-hoc channels.

The beatings will continue until usability improves.

demallien• 16 years ago

Hang on. How is the correction of a security bug in any way shape or form "abusing" users of iPhones. Frankly, if you want to reproach Apple on the subject of security holes, it's because they sometimes take a long time getting around to fix them. The fact that they fixed this one relatively rapidly deserves praise, not criticism.

jodrellblank• 16 years ago

What a pointless trollbaity comment.

Apart from the things which are completely unfixable by design - e.g. the iPhone's utterly standard screen size, touchscreen and lack of keyboard which means any app will work and which isn't something that can be retrofitted onto Android, and the things which it doesn't even make sense to talk about fixing, such as the already available third party apps, and the things which can't be implemented without violating Apple patents or Apple license agreements with third party companies or reverse engineering Apple sync protocols...

Apart from that, even if we agree that the amount of work is exactly the same (which I don't), that still leaves the implication that people who are interested in finding highly prized low-level exploits in iPhone software would be equally interested in (and skilled at) putting little appreciated internals and UI polish on a completely different system. Which is certainly not a given.

And that's assuming that the Android project leads would accept arbitrary and widespread changes.

jgrahamc• 16 years ago

Because when the iPhone was released it provided an experience which did not exist elsewhere. I had tried smart phones up to iPhone and they were a total pain to use. Apple hit the mark with a phone that did the following:

1. Was a decent phone with a good address book

2. Provided a good web surfing experience

3. Provided a good email service

4. Fixed voicemail through visual voicemail

5. Made the carriers provide unlimited data

6. Integrated mapping with GPS

7. Music player

This combination made it a killer device.

jrmg• 16 years ago

Has it actually been confirmed that these people are really 'banned'?

This is the same message that you get if you enter (or, more importantly, someone else enters) your password wrongly multiple times: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2446

Apple bans hackers from App Store

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