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Apple Bans Jailbreakers From the App Store
Hugh Pickens writes "Adam Mills writes in the Examiner that Apple has been cutting off access to the iTunes App Store for iPhone hackers and jailbreakers. Sherif Hashim, the iPhone developer who successfully hacked the iPhone OS 3.1.3 and unlocked the 05.12.01 baseband for iPhone 3GS and 3G devices, discovered he'd been cut off and twittered: '"Your Apple ID was banned for security reasons," that's what i get when i try to go to the app store, they must be really angry.' Another hacker, iH8Sn0w, who is behind the Sn0wbreeze tool, confirms that his account has also been deactivated even though iH8sn0w's exploit had only been revealed to Dev Team, the group responsible for the PwnageTool. 'It is kind of surprising that two people associated with jailbreaking have had this happen to them so soon after one another, but it's too early to say if this is a campaign that Apple is starting up,' writes Mills."
Owned.
Apple works really hard to keep everything in their little bubble... I am not surprised they are going this route, if indeed it turns out to be that way....
We'll need a bit more evidence than 2 cases.
Anyway, that would be an effective way to encourage people to try out alternate ways to acquire the same software...
Finally! A year of moderation! Ready for 2019?
That's why I've told anyone who jailbroke to use a separate account for apps on jailbroken devices.
Kind of silly, IMO. You're going to ban people from possibly paying for apps? Not every app is jailbroken, some are cracked incorrectly (some of the antipiracy mechanisms in apps I've seen are nothing short of hilarious trolling), and some are out of date. Additionally, if an app is really good, a user may buy the app to support the dev.
So you ban people and what happens? People jailbreak all the free apps too.
Seems like a bad move on Apple's part.
Jail-breaking facilitates piracy
I could possibly understand if app store apps were at crazy prices or forced you to bend over backwards in order to use them. But the majority of them cost, what, £5? Maybe £7 or £9?
.....cooler, 8 weeks.
3.1.3 hasn't been "hacked". The chap discovered a specific crash which could trigger a crash in the baseband software, potentially being one day developed into an unlock. Long way off..
The other guy cobbled a VB front-end onto a load of other people's utilities to make a questionably legal Windows version of an existing OSX program for creating custom firmware bundles.
Bit of an overreaction on Apple's part if you ask me.
Is a lot like the experience you have after having a few too many drinks and wandering into a dark alley at 3AM.
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
Sounds like it's time for a little spoofing. One account for access to the app store, another to give the Apple security thugs some red meat to chew on. Time to teach Mr. Jobs some manners.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
For goodness sake, who gives a crap about the stupid iphone? I remember when slashdot was a site that made fun of people who bought crap like iphones and then whined about it. Now it's a bunch of whiners.
If you want a really great phone that you can hack on and a company who actually likes you for it, get an n900. I love mine (and I am in no way affiliated w/ Nokia).
Am I the only one who thinks that this line is disturbingly Orwellian?
That is one of the huge drawbacks of such a closed ecosystem.
However, the original post is less agitate than the summary:
Is Apple starting to ban those associated with jailbreaking?
The answer is probably not. [...] however it definitely would put an iron grip on those who pirate free software. The details of what is going on remain extremely murky but maybe they are taking down some of the bigger players.
"Hannibal's plans never work right. They just work." Amy/A-Team
Hi Apple! Been a big fan since I dumped Linux in '04 or so. I've really enjoyed MacOS X and my laptops. You sold me a good UNIX with support for Microsoft Office - which I need. But you know what? Ever since you started making money hands over fist with iTunes, you've started REALLY SUCKING as a company. I don't want to buy from you any longer. My next phone will NOT be an iPhone. My next laptop will NOT be another Macbook. I think I'll be perfectly happy with an unlocked Nexus and a laptop running FreeBSD. So... FUCK OFF, Apple. For me, your time has come and gone. -M
...But do not expect the hardware/software's creator to give you carte blanche access to the resources to do it.
And heaven help you should you do what they fear you or others could do if your code has a serious bug; spam or interrupt the cell network or a local wifi network. The onslaught of Apple's lawyers, not to mention the FCC and other international communications regulators, would by a iPocalypse in itself.
Vos teneo officium eram periculosus ut vos recipero is.
"We'll need a bit more evidence than 2 cases."
That Apple is taking actions that try to tighten their control and limit consumer choice?
Yeah, that would be something extraordinary and unprecedented...
I'm not sure where these people are based, but many countries would have them protected here. The iPhone is pretty much useless without the app store and apple are very clear that it is the main selling point in their adverts. By cutting people off from a monopoly store they have changed the functionality of the device which is still being paid for.
I'd stop paying my contract fees immediately until the access is restored, personally.
have a price tag with it. in this case, price is freedom.
apple users should face the distasteful truth. the company which is providing them 'stylish' and 'hip' products that 'just work', is just wanting to keep them as cash cows without any consumer choice.
Read radical news here
This obviously sucks for the people involved, but I can't help but feel this is actually superb news. Maybe this will finaly drive home that the ability to jailbreak your devices does not excuse manufactures for making locked-down closed devices. Far too often I've heard arguments of the form: "[DEVICES] are not locked down, because you can jailbreak them if you want to."
"linux is just DOS with a UNIX like syntax" -- Galactic Dominator (944134)
I got the exact same message a couple of weeks ago when I tried to log in to ADC. Here's a screenshot: http://tomasf.se/other/appleid.jpg
I'm not a jailbreaker, though, so either Apple made a mistake in my case, or this has nothing to do with jailbreaking. Now to figure out how to resolve this... :-/
You think like a ReThuglican Jew
Indeed, and see this Apple KB article:
So who's to say it's not someone just messing with these guys? All it takes is a few bad login attempts to temporarily disable ANY Apple ID.
And even if Apple was disabling just these Apple IDs, it's clearly not of all people with jailbroken devices, else we would know about it; instead it's specific, individual people (who are probably in violation of Apple's terms of service for Apple IDs).
"Adam Mills writes in the Examiner that Apple has been cutting off access to the iTunes App Store for iPhone hackers and jailbreakers"
Actually, that's not what the article says. Maybe Apple is seeking these accounts out to ban, but there is certainly little evidence to suggest this and the anecdotal evidence provided is weak. Wow Slashdot, the downward spiral continues. What is this reddit or something?
Keep digging that hole for yourself, Apple. It'll save Android from having to do the heavy lifting.
Is it that hard to ask your favorite search engine? Their Apple ID was disabled, so what do you do - how about just resetting your password? http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2446 They weren't "banned" because they got jailbroken phones, sheesh...
Hey, at least Microsoft didn't do this. Then it'd be downright evil.
A manipulated verification procedure for software to be installed *is* a security problem. If the procedure is manipulated, then it is imaginable that binaries transferred from the appstore to the phone get manipulated on the way and that apple is liable for the damage from that. If the promise is a safe delivery of an application, then, as a customer you probably can sue them if you can prove that apple got knowledge about this and did *not* inform you. So technically speaking, an jailbroken iphone is a system which is damaged in a way which prevents a security feature (the use of is -for whatever reason- mandatory) needed for the safe use of the app. store from working. That the "Security" coindcides with Apples best interests and that Apple did not give a possibility to turn off this feature, is written on another sheet of paper.
And-actually-i highly doubt that it is a legal right of a iphone owner to use the app store forever. Nobody stops you from using the iphone as you wish, i mean that was the primary purpose of jailbreaking, wasnt it?
BTW: My Nokia E63 has a way of turning the certificate checking off and on in a controlled way.
...so when someone breaks their contract with Apple, Apple will prevent them from using more Apple products?
Wow... that's almost as bad as police pulling people over for speeding, or ticketing illegally parked cars!
(Hmm... was there a little too much sarcasm in that? Oh well. Still... getting upset because a company stops doing business with you after you break a contract with them is pretty silly. If you didn't like the contract, you shouldn't have signed it in the first place.)
cede , not seed.
this would really really suck if true - it will only drive all jailbreakers to pirating all apps instead of purchasing them legitimately ....
At least I personally don't see jailbreakers as all pirates - I personally have a jailbroken phone (as I couldn't use it in my country otherwise when I first got it) but don't pirate, and till now haven't seen piracy as an issue (I've not bothered putting piracy checks in my apps as I figure the small portion of users that do pirate mostly wouldn't buy the app otherwise anyway, and if they really want to go that effort to just save $1 then they probably need the money more than me) .... but if every jailbreaker is forced into piracy that would change things a long
...except for the bit where they're free to abandon Apple's products the instant they get sick of them, and find something they perceive to be better.
Ban jailbreakers from the app store. Then you don't get the 30% cut of the apps they would be legitimately buying anymore, and instead they'll just be forced to learn how to pirate the apps they want.
If that's the case I'ma stock up on T.P. since I'm about to discover porn all over again!
Sig Follows: "Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself." -- Mark Twain
Amen brother.
Lets take the other company everyone says is such a lock in MS. XP which has been out since 2001 still has some support left in it. The iPod I bought 3 years after that in 2004 0 support. Same thing with many OSX versions out there. Apple has about a 3 year support timeframe. Dont expect anymore out of them. MS has bent over backwards to make things from 1985 still work on their OS. MS has show time and time again that they are 'out of it'. But they have decent support you have to give them props for that. That they recently cut off the old XBox actually somewhat shocked me considering their track history.
Here's a possible other side: Someone learned their login credentials, or at least the name, and tried too many times to log on as them. Poof, account locked for security reasons.
I'm usually not the first to come to Apple's defense (personally, I try hard to avoid their products exactly for the same reason I avoid Sony, I'm not a big fan of vendor lock-in), but I think we should first of all wait 'til it's verified that this is due to their jailbreaking.
Then there's still enough time to give them the verbal smackdown they (then) deserve.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Back in Oct 09 there were 4 million jailbroken iphones, of those at 38% have at least one pirated application. The numbers are real and growing. In order for the app store to be a viable business Apple has to protect the IP of the app holders. It's really sad, because there are great free uses of jail broken phones. It's too bad the pirate community ruined things for the free software community.
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/new_iphone_app_piracy_statistics_reveal_try_before_you_buy_myth.php
Lotus 1-2-3 has an unassailable market position! Now please insert the master license disk from your copy of 1-2-3 and Press Any Key to Continue...
the major advances in civilization are processes which all but wreck the societies in which they occur - A.N. White
No, apple ruined it for 62%.
You mean apple ruined it for 62%.
Who says it's Apple cutting the strings? Apple has plenty of licensing agreements that surely require Apple to intervene when interests are compromised. They crippled iPods for the sake of record labels for the iTunes store, i.e. disabled iPod-to-iPod transfers and recording capabilities. That's the only reason two iPods can't be linked and synchronized over Firewire (yes they could do that without a computer as host), otherwise they could only sell one copy of a song to each high school at best. I imagine Verizon doesn't want iPhones using VOIP over 3G either.
I think it's a bad move. 95% of people willing and able to jailbreak an iPhone are also willing and able to pirate apps. All this does is assure that they do. I bet more than half the jailbreakers buy apps legitimately, even those using VOIP over 3G. It's like they're treating a rash by amputating the leg.
War as we knew it was obsolete
Nothing could beat complete denial
- Emily Haines
Let the hackers build their own business and see how they react when someone tries to crash their party. On another note, Apple uses these guys to improve the security on their products. Free security testing.
Apple where data goes to die
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
I've had the exact same message!
OMG! Apple is punishing me for NOT jailbreaking my iPhone, and NOT doing anything illegal with my machine and MobileMe account!
Keep digging that hole for yourself, Apple.
Sheesh. So somebody figured they'd try and log into some fairly prominent hackers' MobileMe account, and three incorrect passwords disabled the ID.
And now, it's all over the net, because these morons are known by their real names and dumb enough to sense massive paranoia (OMG it's almost like they feel they're doing something wrong innit?)
FWIW: Give me your MobileMe username - i.e. your email addy, or even just a reasonable guess, and I can make you see that very same message in a few seconds. Wanna bet?
It was me. (Or it would have been, had I thought of this.)
If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYecfV3ubP8
You jailbreak the phone, not the apps. A jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch is one that has been freed from Apple's grasp so that apps outside of the App store may be installed on it, themes may be used, etc.
The thing Apple needs to realize is that just wanting to have full control over your iPhone OS is nowhere near the same thing as using pirated apps on it.
For people to get banned from the App store just because they want control over their phone is preposterous ! If anything, that's going to ENCOURAGE people to download pirated apps from the Internet (cutting them off from the App store gives them no way to make legitimate purchases!) DUHH Apple, let friggen go already!! Stop letting the power go to your head!!
I have gotten the message before "this Apple ID has been disabled for security reasons.".
Its not permanent and apple isnt targeting hackers.
I think there ego's are a little to big, they get a message and immediatly think apple is after them.
LOL maybe next time they will google search it first and see that other people have gotten it before as well.
First they banned the jailbreakers, and I did not speak out—because I was not a jailbreaker;
Then they banned the crackers, and I did not speak out—because I was not a cracker;
Then they banned the script kiddies, and I did not speak out—because I was not a script kiddie;
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to write iPhone apps.
Captcha: repress
Right, all Apple users are fanbois. I hate them SO MUCH! And people who use Microsoft products too! Windows fanbois are almost as bad as FOSS fanbois. When will all you fanbois realize that you should be using real computers, like my Commodore 64?!
Well, what do you expect, from a company that allows the speeches of a known fascist and disallows any mention of their competition?
In today's market, most people just want to be like everyone else. Apple has a monopoly power over their market segment and they are happy with that. Their policies may push away 90% of the developers, hackers, and enthusiasts. Unfortunately, this stopped being an important market segment years ago.
What the hell does that have to do with this situation? A private business has the right to refuse service to anyone as long as it is not institutionalized racism, sexism, ageism, or to the disabled.
Although, I am curious what a security risks a jail broken phone poses in a download only app/community.
This is the exact warning you get when your password is entered several times incorrectly, it is possible somebody got a list of developers apple ID's and was trying to brute force their way in. A quick trip to iforgot.apple.com would solve this pretty quickly.
Gee, two HIGH profile developers are locked out of their accounts - with the SAME error message Apple send when they suspect someone has been trying to break into an account. Golly, you don't think maybe someone has been trying to brute their account passwords do you? Wake me when it's more than two and some unknown guy who has no reason to be targeted gets the error and Apple tells him to blow off when he calls them. So far all I've read on this seems to indicate that someone tried to get into their account - have they even asked Apple to reactivate their accounts?
Build it, Drive it, Improve it! Hybridz.org
Like even USING the damn phone on the network of my choice. Mine was network-locked before being hacked, so whenever I upgrade the firmware I need to rehack it to unlock the baseband.
Other things that probably *REALLY* piss off apple are awesome apps like Cycorder, I think that initially you had to get a 3Gs to record video (although I believe there's app-store stuff for that now), cycorder worked from day 1.
Ah well, my Milestone is in the mail. Screw you Apple you're not getting my business anymore.
So Apple decided that the people who discover and publicize ways to exploit cracks in the wall around Apple's garden that they were no longer welcome in said walled garden?
I don't know that it'll accomplish anything, but I can't say as I blame them.
I'm currently looking to upgrade my phone.
Thanks for helping me to shorten my list by giving me a solid reason to not consider iPhone.
But I have consumer choice. I can buy a non-Apple device if I ever find Apple's system too restrictive. Please don't assume what my priorities are when it comes to computer systems.
I jailbroke mine for a couple of reasons.
1- lifting the stupid Rogers 10MB limit on 3G. I have a 6GB/mo plan, I want to use it as I want. (Skype works now on 3G)
2- Better tethering from PDAnet than from Apple. faster too
3- Background apps
4- I can customise and remove unneeded icons from the springboard
5- Allows me to install *FREE* apps that are not available in Canada's store but elsewhere (kinda stupid restriction)
6- Homebrew software.
7- better control over the device
8- can now use it as a USB key
9- many others...
Guess what device will be jailbroke next by those guys? iPad.
I've got better things to do tonight than die.
It all helps my Android based business and I hate Apple.
I signed up for the iPhone Developer Program as an Individual
There are three steps to signing up for the iPhone Developer Program:
You say you selected individual on step 3. I imagine that years ago, a company name may not have been required for step 2, and that you may have completed step 2 then. But when I tried step 2 around September of last year when I bought a Mac mini, a blank Company field was not acceptable.
I'm seeing the logic here as this: You didn't pay for our software, so we're not going to let you pay for our software. How exactly does that make sense?
Pfft, you kids and your shiny bleeding-edge gadgets. My PDP-11 works fine and I don't have to worry about losing all my data when I leave the program cassette on my dashboard like you do.
theirs 4 million jailbroken devices out there and they say 38% have pirate apps on them but what does apple consider pirate if its just 1 apps out of 50 that tosses in that number.. do they conserder any home brew stuff pirate like enabling flash video and safari downloads. see thats what you gotta looks at when apple says stuff like that. yes my i touch 2g is jailbroken but mostly to enable flash and direct downloading on my ipod. to the point if apple starts banning jail broken devices there all there doing is losing money. iphone users do it to get away from at@t and use the career they like and can you blame em. and others users do it to unlock features apple refuses to put in. then you got the pirates. so banning the large group if jailbroken devices that still use itunes store = lost money and i bet alot of it. most ipohnes are jail broken every one i ever see anyways. i bet it would even make itunes market share go down.
Sure, you can hack your device as you please and give apple the middle finger, but with Itunes they are providing a service, so they set the entrance rules.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Some of us accidentally upgraded ours and would like to get our hands on it.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Yes, it's very open except for all the parts that are very closed. That makes perfect sense. But a gilded cage is still a cage. I just wouldn't be happy in one. I don't like having someone who decides what I can and can't do with my phone, telling me that my dictionary app can't have naughty words in it (what if a kid saw them!?), or that I can't make applications that compete with Apple's (at least on the iPhone), or anything else they decide to throw into the endless hell of waiting for approval (like they did with that Google application that they're putting under endless "review" so that they don't have to admit to banning it).
This was proven wrong in the Firehose. You'd think given the flood of comments that maybe /. would issue an update/correction. Don't let that jerking knee hit you in the chin.
Apple's KB article on the topic: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2446
See here: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2446
the only reason my phone is jailbroken is for cosmetics. the iphone doesn't have a lot of customization built into it as far as visual menus.
that's it.
every app i have, i paid for.
if you wanna ban me for modifying my own hardware for my own purposes, then go for it.
Although, I am curious what a security risks a jail broken phone poses in a download only app/community.
http://www.tipb.com/2009/07/03/jailbroken-iphones-security-risk/ Ask Jonathan Miller - but what does he know, pft.
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
myself, not mysef
LOL - OK so Apple is blocking people for "security risk" when the risk is to the user, not Apple? That's absurd. The entire internet should be blocked if we embrace that logic.
There are only two bubbles Apple "forces" you into:
1. Mac OS X only runs (without hacking) on Apple hardware. 2. iPhones OS only runs (without hacking) App Store software.
Everything else is very open.
This and all the counter arguments should be summarized by Apple's old description of its customers; they "think different". If you understand English or somehow fit into the normalcy of current society, you do not think different and are outside of Apple's bubble. And are a treated as a second-class citizen.
Seriously. This is so screwed up, I dont know where to begin.
First, AppStore is filled to the brim with small apps that almost doesnt do anything, and too often doesnt even do what is advertised properly.
Many dont even have a trial, and those small chunks of money starts to add up when you find out none of the apps have any real sense of quality.
I still dont have MMS or Smileys on my 1st gen iPhone (no SwirlyMMS doesnt cut it, far from it). 1st gen is somehow cut off from using MMS by some hacks by Apple that clears out the MMS settings when you put in your provider`s configuration there.. Ive tried everything (damn that night was long), and still no dice.
It seems nobody, not Apple, not AppStore devs, not freeware devs, are able to make something I find useful, for the 1st gen iPhone.
Yesterday, I searched for 2 goddamn hours for an app that could meter network traffic, both wifi and edge - nothing. Just a massive bunch of other do-nothing apps that could measure golf ball sizes, or whatnot.
Everyone and their dog has ported *something* to iPhone, just not much useful stuff other than another alarm clock, a few office tools you can be without and a bunch of tiny apps that almost doesnt do anything. WTF do I want VNC on the iPhone for? The screen is horrible for VNC. I mean it could be useful once in a year, but its not very useful for everyday work (unless you want to fake working..)
NEVER EVER will I buy from Apple again. If I buy a phone, I expect the kinks to be worked out in a sane upgrade path, but this is just ridiculous. I also own a Macbook Pro. Luckily, it can play XP 80%, which is good enough for my use. Just too bad Bootcamp doesnt utilize the hardware 100%.. Again, shortcomings from a company claiming to bring design and perfection, but which is just a FAD and a much worse provider than even Microsoft.. What kind of tools do these chimps think we customers are??
Every time I see that word in a tech context, I immediately think of those full-page magazine ads for the Transwarp Apple II accelerator cards, with the little halftone picture of Steve Wozniak grinning in the corner, and the quote beneath the picture, reading: "I endorse Applied Engineering products wholeheartedly!" :/
Even after 25 years that is wedged in my brain.
I think the apple position is unfair but in Apple rights..
If you jailbreak the iPhone and try to connect to iTuneStore, you cna harm the DRM iPhone Apps.
Apple has the right to ban some iPhone serials if this can be a security risk.
Doing so, the iPhone becomes the less free-to-use device I have never see
-- Giovanni Daitan Giorgi http://gioorgi.com http://www.siforge.org
Ermm what? You asked what risk a jail broken IPhone poses to yourself. Live with it.
Lars T.
To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck
I am not sure you are replying to the correct /. post
Valid :)
Thanks, but I don't need the hep...