Prankster Jailbreaks Apple Store Display iPhone

Stoobalou writes "A prankster has snuck into his local Apple temple of consumerism and footled with one of the display models." Is it wrong of me to think that it would be awesome if everybody did this to every phone? I mean, it's legal now!

Comments

"it's legal now!"

[The MAZZTer]

Even if you do it to a phone you don't own, without permission from the owner?

Re:"it's legal now!"

[Anonymous Coward]

yes, because information wants to be free or something

Re:"it's legal now!"

[theNetImp]

Yeah that was totally NOT legal. That was destruction of property

Re:"it's legal now!"

[odies]

What is even more fun is that Apple users praise this as something that allows them to jailbreak their phone. The "jailbreak" is a PDF exploit that roots your whole phone. I would be a little bit worried if someone could completely take over my phone if I just visited a random website. Apple products don't have exploits or malware, huh? Of course Apple just keeps telling their users they are secure. It's a disaster waiting to happen.

Re:"it's legal now!"

[Anonymous Coward]

Destruction? He was improving it!

Re:"it's legal now!"

[TheKidWho]

That's because those phones route their data through the carrier. RIM's phones route it through RIM's internal servers.

Nothing is stopping you from sending out encrypted data on the iPhone/Android/Nokia phones.

Re:"it's legal now!"

[mdwh2]

What is even more fun is that Apple users praise this as something that allows them to jailbreak their phone.

Indeed. On a related note, I'm reminded of two standard arguments:

* "There's no viruses/malware on the Iphone. That only applies to people who have jailbroken their phones. They deserve what they get."

* "What do you mean I can't do [insert basic task] on an Iphone? Of course it can, you just have to jailbreak it." (Apple, it Just Works - you Just have to jailbreak it to get it to Work.)

Re:"it's legal now!"

[Mongoose Disciple]

No one (sane) claims apple products don't have exploits or malware...

I think you just called a few dozen people who post here crazy. :)

Re:"it's legal now!"

[Mongoose Disciple]

Perhaps, but they have voided the warranty. Presumably the store staff are no longer allowed to work with that phone.

I picture an Island of Lost Toys somewhere on the Apple campus, filled with forlorn iPhones with voided warranties that no Apple Genius (tm) will touch. Denied the love and approving gaze of their turtlenecked creator, they are cast out and set to wander east of Eden, with Apple store employees with flaming swords turning every way to keep them from the Apple Store of Life.

Re:"it's legal now!"

[SleazyRidr]

That sounds about right.

Re:"it's legal now!"

[Anonymous Coward]

No one (sane) claims apple products don't have exploits or malware...

True, but that won't stop the foaming-at-the-mouth hatebois from setting up & knocking over that straw man ad nauseum.

Re:"it's legal now!"

[x2A]

You missed a bit:

"There's no viruses/malware on the Iphone. That only applies to people who have jailbroken their phones by running the viruses/malware that's available on the iphone"

But hey, at least children can't run educational intro-to-programming software on it.

Re:"it's legal now!"

[ciroknight]

It is likely that Apple uses Adobe's Open Source Media Framework to develop their plugins.

In this case, you're completely wrong. Apple has its own complete PDF stack which is used from its display server (Quartz, which is itself derived from Display PDF) up; the advantage is that you can dump a PDF from basically anywhere (what's on screen if it isn't 3D, offscreen widgets, etc) and print that exactly to your documentation, etc. It would make less than no sense for Apple to license Adobe's code, since it would be a complete duplication of something already in their software stack.

Re:"it's legal now!"

[Bing Tsher E]

Well, this is apple.slashdot.org so everybody has taken sides. You are either a suckup or a hater here.

Re:"it's legal now!"

[Gadzeus]

Apple user bashing is insightful?

How about considering that the press has been portraying the Android/iPhone competition as Open vs Closed platform and, thus, is spinning this exploit as a good thing? I have seen the anti-Apple rhetoric rise to such dizzy heights as to suggest that this mirrors the Windows/Mac competition of the 90s... conveniently forgetting that both platforms were proprietary and that Microsoft was the arch proponent of domination through proprietary technology, working diligently to pervert open standards with proprietary code and even going as far as cramming the ISO with customers to railroad through the new, proprietary code dependent, Word doc format as an 'open' standard.

Here's a well respected Apple blogger commenting more accurately on the misrepresentation of this exploit:

"Yikes. It’s odd how the press is mostly covering this as “jailbreaking now more convenient” rather than “remote code exploit now in the wild”.
John Gruber of Daring Fireball.

Re:"it's legal now!"

[Osty]

Look for GV Mobile and MyWi. There are free and for-pay versions of GV Mobile, and while MyWi is for-pay it has a weird distribution scheme where it looks like it's free in Cydia but then you have to do a couple of other funky things, get a license, and then it works.

Cydia doesn't really have popular lists like in iTunes, so if you're used to seeing "Most Downloaded" apps you're not going to find it there. Really, I've found the best way to find what I want is to search the web for the concept ("iphone jailbreak wifi tether" for example) and find out what apps people are using to do what I want, and which ones they think are good. Then I search for that app in Cydia and download it. Note that Cydia's search seems to be based off of title and description and not any sort of metadata or semantics, so searching for "tether" does not return MyWi. But if you know that MyWi is what you want, searching for "MyWi" will find it quickly.

Re:"it's legal now!"

[tholomyes]

If you care about the security of your data, there is only one choice.

Don't attach it to a network.

Re:"it's legal now!"

[agrif]

For the record (because nobody seems to know this), this particular exploit, while jailbreaking your phone, also patches the security hole it rode in on. As of today, a freshly-jailbroken phone with a secure root password is more secure than the vanilla-OS versions.

Yes, this is an exploit. But it is an incredibly handy one.

(Also, on a historical note, there was a nearly identical version of this website (at the same address!) right after the first-gen iPhones and iPod Touches came out. I remember jailbreaking mine the day I got it, right from the device. That version also patched the exploit it used. If I recall correctly, it was an old bug in zlib or libpng.)

yes, its wrong

[bsDaemon]

Hey, Taco... I think there might be kind of a difference between jailbreaking a phone you've paid for, and jailbreaking the display model at the store which is still Apple's property in a fairly straight forward way. I'm no fancy, big city lawyer, but it seems to me that might have some bearing on just how legal it is to do it.

Re:yes, its wrong

[ciderbrew]

But he only clicked on a link? How was he to know what would happen?

Re:yes, its wrong

[a.deity]

Back in the old days of 2.x jailbreaking (another one where a visit to a website would do it), there would always be a few display models running Cydia every morning. It was just a pain in the ass, and no one at the retail level was greatly angered or even cared too much; we'd just restore them when we saw them. To anyone on their way to an Apple Store to do this: you're not making a subversive statement, you're just taking 5 minutes out of a Specialist's day, one who probably jailbroke their phone a long time ago.

Re:yes, its wrong

[Anonymous Coward]

So when I see your car parked with the window open, I'll be happy toss stuff into it--after all, I'm adding features to it. And when I pass your house, I'll try the door knob. If it's unlocked, then I'll come in and rearrange things to make them more efficient and I'll re-paint several rooms, adding to the aesthetic.

It's not awesome

[mccalli]

The cutsie word 'jailbreak' seems to be catching on, but if this were any other os I think the phrase 'gaping remote code execution security hole' might be more appropriate.

I use an iPhone and I thank people who do these exploits for bringing them to attention. If the means of jailbreak is "connect via USB then faff" I can live with it. If it's "go to this website and get an instant remote execution exploit from people you don't know" then I become rather more concerned.

It's an exploit, same as any other. It should be patched as fast as possible and such an action wouldn't be evil, it would be the correct response to a remote execution hole.

Cheers,
Ian

Re:It's not awesome

[elrous0]

Exploit or not, that is still a pretty funny video. I love the fact that the guy spent all that time in the store without a single employee asking if he could help him with something. I guess Apple has an OS security problem *and* a customer service problem.

Re:It's not awesome

[elewton]

Maybe it's because I'm Irish, but it annoys the piss out of me when staff bother me without my beckon. It's especially annoying when I'm reading a menu outside a restaurant and they use a greeter. That always moves me right on.

He was obviously occupied, and needed no help. If he wanted to talk to a member of staff, he had only to look up.

Nothing personal, just an off-topic rant.

Re:It's not awesome

[SatanicPuppy]

I think most people only go to the apple store to play with the hardware anyway. I know people who do that as a form of entertainment.

cute

[jewishbaconzombies]

I laughed - but they restore all computers and iphones (probably iPods too) every day. It'd be a short-lived prank.

But I'm going to laugh more after waiting for years for ATT to provide tethering (which I'd gladly pay for) - if it were wifi - like every-freaking-body-else. Oh no - you can't tether your iPad - because - um - bluetooth only! Yeah that's it! It's apple's fault because they don't support bluetooth tethering - obviously.

What about WIFI? "ahem cough cough - ahem".

Fixed that little problem in 30 seconds - and oh noes - if my phone has problems, I guess I'll just have to suffer and restore it to preserve my warranty. Such a huge sacrifice that.

Suck MyFi dick ATT / Apple - you had your chance for nearly 3 years and you fucked it up. Here's a fork - you know where to stick it to see if you're done.

Re:cute

[dirk]

I'm sure Apple and AT&T are horribly upset that you have given them your money for products you find are inferior.

I just don't understand why everyone keeps buying iPhones and iPads if they don't do what they want. By purchasing them, you are basically telling Apple and AT&T that you are happy with their products and service. If they don't do what you want, don't purchase them and purchase something that does. I don't like how Apple handles the app store, so instead of giving them money and rewarding them for their bad job, I purchased an Android phone.

Ethically wrong, but probably not legally...

[Shoeler]

This is certainly ethically wrong. It'd be like me going into your house and installing stuff on your home PC that I want there, without ever asking and without your knowledge.

Nevermind the fact that you should have protected it with a password, at the least.

Of course the password thing doesn't work as well when you're trying to sell iPhones.

It's not like you have an agreement you have to approve or anything to use their iPhone

Re:Ethically wrong, but probably not legally...

[Barny]

We have display PCs where I work, it takes us about 20min to wipe them and reload our image for display, I would guess apple have a similar thing in place.

We don't give net access to them, but neither do we count them as safe from virus' since anyone off the street can come in and toss a USB stick into them while a sales staff is busy.

Idle is right

[Anonymous Coward]

Beyond the vaguely amusing "Let's stick it to Apple!" shtick that's been going on for a while, what the fuck is the point of this?

Oh no! Some kid did stupid shit and posted it online! Huzzah?

What next? Are we gonna go out and watch as the kids giggle as they smoke pot outside the police department?

You could also...

[Trip6]

...paint the outside of a display phone with honey, and then the next person to pick it up would have honey all over their hands. That would be funny too!

Re:You could also...

[Pollardito]

It seems like caramel would be more appropriate

Wrong?

[whisper_jeff]

Is it wrong of me to think that it would be awesome if everybody did this to every phone? I mean, it's legal now!

Wrong? Probably. Infantile? Absolutely. Legal? Absolutely not. It's called vandalism which is still illegal.

Re:Wrong?

[rotide]

Modifying something without the owners consent is vandalism. I can modify your car with a brick or with a new engine. You may dislike both of those options as your old engine got you 40mpg while the new one is so much more awesome (your opinion) at 500hp and 15mpg (yay for car analogies!).

Same thing is happening here. Apple wants things a certain way and it makes no difference what your (or anybodies besides Apple's) opinion is about what is being done to the phone. No matter how much "better" _you_ think it is, it is theirs and they don't want you mucking with it in that way. I'm no Apple fan, far from it, but even I can see this isn't something you want to make a habit out of as the police will eventually make their presence known when Apple catches on.

(I know you're trying to be funny and not entirely serious, but I thought it still needed to be said).

Re:Wrong?

[archangel9]

Congressman, is that you?

Vandalism requires physical harm. The hardware is not damaged.

No, vandalism requires changing physical properties of something, but not necessarily harm. Spray painting my fence with gang signs isn't "harm", but it requires me to fork out $X to have it repainted, thus costing money to remedy.

Someone will no doubt say "oh, but they image those phones every night, so it doesn't matter." Well, even if I paint my fence yearly, why should it be defaced between paintings?

Dangit, I should have made a car reference.

Re:Go to the original source, Slashdot

[Idbar]

How in hell is now reddig (or digg, or whatever "aggregation service" - even Slashdot - for that matter) an "original source"?

Re:Footed?

[$RANDOMLUSER]

I'm pretty sure they meant "fisted".

Re:I, for one

[BarryJacobsen]

are happy that I can buy a new iPhone directly from Apple almost without any ties to any phonecompany and with all features enabled.

Although they have forgotten to remove the 20 megabyte at&t download limitation from itunes. Can jailbreak solve that? I'd like to download podcasts from 3g and I actually have free (national) calls and unlimited data for tethering or whatever. (the benefit of working for a big company that can make proper deals with the data carriers)

There is indeed a jailbreak app that can make apps think they're on wifi - My3G (and there are probably others).

Poor User Experience, the bane of open source.

[jessecurry]

I had my first experience with jailbreaking yesterday. It looks like jailbreakme.com is just a vehicle to force people into installing Cydia. Further, with the exception of the few apps that unlock some functionality on your phone it looks like most of the Apps on the Cydia store are just too low quality to have been approved by Apple. I'm thankful that I was able to SIM unlock my old phone so my girlfriend could use it with her carrier, but the experience was very poor. Every hack that I installed seemed to break something, then I needed to install another hack to fix the previous one... makes me glad to have my phone in Apple's walled garden, I just couldn't afford some much downtime on a communications device.

Re:Poor User Experience, the bane of open source.

[geogob]

There is a lot of stuff of questionable quality available but a few very useful tools or modifications not available otherwise. Add to that the carrier unlock possibility, I think you strongly under evaluate the importance of this procedure. You may also want to be more restrictive on the modification you install. If you start installing all the available modifications that look interesting on any OS, you will have stability issues.

If you want to play outside of Apple's "Eden", you'll have to treat and understand your device as a computer running a Unix based OS... not a cellphone on which you install apps.

Also, Cydia is mostly a graphical front end for the Debian package manager with a repository browser. You can install your packages yourself using command line. You can also add your own sources to Cydia. Not sure I understand where the problem lies regarding the jailbreak process installing Cydia. What other mechanism do you expect to install packages once the device is jailbroken?

And blaming your poor user experience on open source or open devices, that's just wrong.

Re:Did that, done that, been there.

[Cruciform]

The Tandy TRS-80 had a speech cartridge, and for some stupid reason Radio Shack would leave those plugged into the display models.
I'd go up to them, type in every swear word I could think of multiple times, scroll them off the screen, and then go "browse" somewhere nearby.
Another kid would see the computer, get excited, run up and type "HELLO" and get a nice long, loud, string of cursing.
They'd get thrown out of the store, professing their innocence, to the delight of my evil 8 or 9 year old mind.

Children are assholes. Never forget that.

-1 Redundant

[singingjim1]

As soon as the story broke about the online jailbreak I saw numerous Facebook posts about heading out to the Apple/AT&T stores to jailbreak the demos. This is going on all over the country as we type.