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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."
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incorrectly (some of the antipiracy mechanisms in apps I've seen are nothing short of hilarious trolling), and some are out of date.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.
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
The vast majority of jail-breakers don't pirate apps. Well that or I hang out with the wrong people -- jailbreaking is extremely common, but I haven't seen an iPhone with a pirated app yet.
Finally! A year of moderation! Ready for 2019?
where do you come up with this? Jail breaking exists because there is a demand for features that apple refuses to provide. It's no different than rooting a google phone, and for the same reasons.
Easy examples: Flash, multitasking, tethering.
I'm an apple hater, someone who doesn't even have an iphone, and even I know this. Basically, there wouldn't be jailbreaking if apple was actually giving their customers what they want.
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
Jail-breaking facilitates piracy
So how is banning jailbreakers from the app store going to help with that? It seems like it would just force the jailbreakers to use pirated apps exclusively.
And assuming Apple limits the bans to the authors of jailbreaking tools rather than end users, it won't do much to deter the development of such tools. You don't need access to the app store to write the tools, and I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that the authors of the tools have no problem pirating apps themselves.
I think jailbreaking isn't a great idea, and Apple is within its rights to deter it through security improvements and the like, but this just seems counterproductive.
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)
Ever since you started making money hands over fist with iTunes...
Ummm... Apple has never started making money hand over fist with iTunes. Income from iTunes and the iPhone app store together are a negligible portion of Apple's revenue. Seriously, they both barely make more than the operational cost.
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... :-/
I'll add my experience:
I've jailbroken my phone, and I have not placed a single app that was available on the appstore on my phone without purchasing it from the appstore.
I jailbroke my phone so I could get into the file system of the phone because I absolutely hate using iTunes to get files on and off my device. I also liked to be able to multitask and not have my preferred music player stop working because I wanted to look up something on the internet.
In fact, if I couldn't jailbreak my phone I wouldn't have purchased it in the first place since in its default state, it's a pretty crappy device for my needs.
Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
And this punishment just happens to only be effective against people who don't pirate.
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).
Ummm... Apple has never started making money hand over fist with iTunes. Income from iTunes and the iPhone app store together are a negligible portion of Apple's revenue. Seriously, they both barely make more than the operational cost.
It must suck for a company to have a component of its business operating at a profit.
Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
I jailbroke my phone to get these features:
1. A bash shell and openssh so I could have scripts for maintaining servers with me at all times.
2. Multitasking - why should GPS apps suspend and lose location info when someone calls? Why should Rhapsody not be allowed to run in the background? (Note to Apple: offer a Rhapsody-like streaming service please)
3. Steve Jobs may like how the iPhone GUI looks, but I don't worship Jobs and have my own ideas how my iPhone theme should look. Jobs is a brilliant guy, but he is a bit narcissistic. Why should he lock down my phone because I choose to use it differently than he uses his?
4. To enable tethering, which I haven't used other than to test it, but to know it's there if I am in a pinch and need internet access from a laptop immediately while on the road
And yet, I've not "pirated"[sic] a single application. I know people who don't jailbreak who claim to "pirate"[sic] apps, by syncing friends' phones to their macs (I don't know if it can be done as I'm not interested in "stealing"[sic] apps). I download plenty of apps from the app store - and some music (I'm mostly happy with my CD rips, but I do want to buy some tracks on occasion). I even purchase paid apps, such as TomTom, bejeweled, and quite a few others. Funny thing though, aside from TomTom, Defend Your Castle, and bejeweled, I don't bother with the apps I paid for all that much. I've found that many of the free ones are better, or just about as good! Why buy "fastlane" when the only real improvement over the free version is additional scenery?
I don't "pirate"[sic] apps or music, and have no desire to. And yet, I jailbroke my phone. In fact when I mistakenly downgraded to 3.1.3 (and did not have my hashes on file) I figured out a way to upgrade generate the hashes and upgrade from 3.1.3 back up to 3.1.2.
Posted anon since I figured out how to successfully revert back to 3.1.2 and I do not want Apple to ban me from the app store, since I actually LIKE giving Apple money in exchange for product on occasion.
But the majority of them cost, what, £5? Maybe £7 or £9?
More like £1.
From Apple's point of view, jailbreaking is a means of piracy and exploiting AT&T's bandwidth for things like tethering, and a possible vector for attack.
From free software advocates' point of view, jailbreaking is the freedom to install software that Apple/AT&T wouldn't approve.
From everyone else's point of view, it's a non-issue.
I can definitely relate to those who'd like to run any code they want on their phone, but IMHO they should really just cough up the money for a dev license. $99 isn't that much if you're already spending $1000/year for service.
On the other hand, I can't see how Apple or anyone else would benefit by blocking jailbreakers from App Store. Maybe Apple canceled their developer accounts, which are attached to Apple IDs, and blocking the App Store was just a side effect.
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
Jailbreaking isn't actually that common. And I would believe the amount of people who jailbreak with the intent of pirating games to be less so. I have a jailbroken iPod Touch, but I'm not entirely sure why I have it jailbroken anymore. It used to be because I didn't pay for a dev certificate, but since then, I guess I've just been too lazy to revert it. Or too lazy to keep up with the Cydia community to see what's cool.
Keep digging that hole for yourself, Apple. It'll save Android from having to do the heavy lifting.
Hey, at least Microsoft didn't do this. Then it'd be downright evil.
$99 isn't that much if you're already spending $1000/year for service.
Three problems with your argument:
Cite that please. You're arguing that they make little to no money from content distribution through iTunes? I think you're full of it.
Sure. http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/11/steve-jobs-tries-to-downplay-the-itunes-stores-profit/ ...is an article where a NYT pundit postulates that despite Apple having publicly stated they make little money on the operation, he thinks they might actually be making a billion dollars a year (they make 25 billion or so a year as a company). Be sure to read the update at the end where he acknowledges he was mostly wrong after someone explained to him how much credit card transaction fees cost.
This is why I do not buy anything from Apple. I will not be forced into a little bubble like all of you cattle out there. I have missed nothing as the result. By the way, my phone dose multitasking and I am not banned from anything (except Apple).
Athiesm is a religion like not collecting stamps is a hobby.
cede , not seed.
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
Maybe it was the "cattle" comment. Sounds like a flame to me.
Here's a rather silly question - why did you buy it in the first place?
In its default state, I wouldn't have, and I didn't. I waited until it was possible to hack the device, then I purchased it once I saw that it wasn't a flakey hack and it was established that I wouldn't brick the device by breathing on it the wrong way. At that point, when I considered the total package (jailbroken iphone), it WAS what I wanted in a device since the alternatives (Verizon, Tmobile, Sprint) were not actually viable alternatives.
So in short, the unjailbroken iPhone was not something I wanted. The Jailbroken iPhone was.
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Nonsense - I signed up for the iPhone Developer Program as an Individual, as have many. It's one of the first questions asked, as it determines how you're listed in the App Store.
You didn't read the article you cited, did you? It made the exact opposite point of what you argue - that iTunes is immensely profitable for the firm. Read the link you posted.
Actually I did read it as you should know if you even read my comments telling you which portions you needed to pay attention to. Please go reread what I wrote. The article mentions the long standing position of Apple and belief of analysts that Apple makes little or nothing on iTunes. Then, it proposes Apple could make a billion dollars a year, which is to say, still less than all the other divisions of Apple make. It bases that upon the theory that Apple's margins could be slightly better than for other products they sell, which the author admits in the update was incorrect. He further admits he failed to take into account the cost of running the servers and the bandwidth costs. his end conclusion is, "But I still think that with the scale it has, I still think that iTunes is a better business than Mr. Jobs makes it out to be." in reference to Jobs saying it doesn't make much money. Seriously, reading comprehension goes beyond just scanning the title, slacker.
No later than when they passed the ADA.
Benford's Corollary to Clarke's Law: "Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced."
So being an Apple fanboi is a disability? :-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
With a reply like that you don't need to point out that you aren't a lawyer, really.
Which explains the constant cellular outages caused by thousands of rogue apps on Android phones. That's pure fear-mongering by Apple and the carriers to keep their lock-in.
How to solve most of our problems: 1.Lots of nuclear plants. 2.Cure aging.
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.
You seem to be having a normal ego threat response. I pointed out that your comment about Apple making lots of money on iTunes and your implication that they have changed business practices to cash in on that instead of on the businesses where they are making most of their money, was misinformed. Even the pie in the sky estimates of Apples iTunes revenue make it about 4% of their income, while more enlightened estimates put it probably below 1%. I cited an article from one of those pie in the sky people, who realized his mistake when corrected, in the hopes that you'd see not only the logic, but where people that make that assumption went wrong.
Instead of rationally revising your opinion with the input of this new data (as the author largely did), you got emotional and defensive. As if being wrong makes you less of a person, you instead chose to irrationally defend that incorrect opinion, in effect being a less intelligent person. I'm not pointing this out because I want to make you feel bad or look bad. I don't know you and don't really care that much. I just hope you can impartially consider your decision making process and truly consider if you are being reasoned and logical in future.
I think you overestimate Apple's market position. Sure, in portable music players, iPod is king. HOWEVER, in mobile phones? iPhone is popular but it has a LOT of stiff competition. Android is rising fast - there are still tons of people who still prefer BlackBerries. Even more just take whatever is one sale. Apple isn't the behemoth in this market that some people believe them to be. They are exactly what they were back in the 1980's computer market: a solid competitor with good market share. Close-mindedness and a cocky attitude took that position and flushed it back then. They are starting to show the same signs again. This is NOT the Apple that rose from the ashes back in 2000. This is a different beast that has emerged and if they misstep, people will dump them once again.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
I am not sure you are replying to the correct /. post