July 28, 2010

Kyle Matthews (the owner of the most popular iPhone hacking forum in my opinion) wrote an article about what jailbreaking is and why it’s important. I just wanted to parrot his idea here in case you missed it. I feel the more websites that carry this message and spread it are a good thing. You can read his original article here.

What is jailbreaking? - Without getting technical, jailbreaking is a term coined for gaining write access to the file system of an iPhone. The iPhone contains a flash memory chip which is comparable to the hard drive in a computer. It contains files and programs.


Why do people jailbreak? - The iPhone is essentially a handheld computer. When you can write to the file system you can add, remove or modify files or programs on that computer to improve or expand its abilities. Most people do this every single day with their laptop and desktop computers. They create documents for school or work and save them. Some even choose to share these files with other people who own their own computers.

Many go to the store and purchase whatever software they like, and from whatever software manufacturer they like and then install it on their computers. This software could be a video game or a productivity program. Jailbreaking provides iPhone owners with this same choice.

Many people like to personalize their computers as well by changing the desktop wallpaper or customizing the icons that represent programs, et cetera. iPhone owners should have these exact same choices. With jailbreaking they do.

Many choose to write their own software and run it on their own computers. Some of these programs are then sold to other computer owners. These have always been legal activities. With jailbreaking this is now possible on the iPhone as well.

The jailbreaking scene has proved beneficial to current iPhone owners. Many of the things jailbreakers created, Apple then decided to add to the iPhone to expand its capabilities. This included copy and paste, wallpapers, tethering, placing applications into folders with other applications, and the biggest invention of all: a program on the iPhone that allows you to browse an online store to purchase and install other programs.


What if I don’t care about jailbreaking anyway? - This all sounds well and good, but maybe you purchased an iPhone (or even a home computer) and don’t intend to ever buy any software for it, or want to install or change anything on that computer. That is certainly your choice. That choice should not be taken away from other people however. If jailbreaking were ruled illegal, then choice would have been taken away.

When you own an iPhone or a computer, you should be able to do anything you want with it. If all you seek is to be able to expand the abilities of the device and, in the case of the iPhone, make your smart phone even smarter, or more useful, then this should not be an issue for anyone else, it’s your phone. You paid for it. This is no different than purchasing a new car and then installing better tires, rims, or a stereo in it. You don’t need the automobile manufacturer’s approval to do this do you?

Kyle made a similar analogy about this. He equated this choice to going to your local computer store, purchasing a computer running the Windows operating system, and then being told by the salesperson that you could only purchase programs for that computer that were approved of by Microsoft, or by the device manufacturer (Dell, Sony, Toshiba, et cetera). Any other programs you purchased would be illegal to install on that computer. This analogy could be extended to apply to hardware you want to install on that computer. Upgrading the RAM or the video card or the hard drive would have to be approved by the manufacturer of the laptop as well. Sound ridiculous? It should. Apple doesn’t have restrictions like this with their computers. Why should these restrictions be placed on their phone?


Aren’t jailbreakers software pirates? - Jailbreaking has always been legal, piracy is illegal. While jailbreaking an iPhone certainly would allow you to steal a program for the iPhone without paying for it and then run that program, this was not the driving force behind this process. I’ve certainly never understood how someone can afford to purchase a phone that costs hundreds of dollars, yet steal a program for it that costs five dollars. Those people are in the minority.

These are the same people who pirate software for home computers. The Windows operating system is more often found to be illegally installed on your (or your neighbor’s) home computer, or even your work computer than any program on the iPhone. Just because some people choose to steal doesn’t mean all choose to.


Doesn’t jailbreaking impact the security of the cell phone networks? - If a malicious programmer wanted to create a program to disrupt cell phone service, it would be an illegal act. It would be no different than using a home computer to illegally gain access to someone else's bank account, or credit cards, or to do damage to a computer network and steal or delete data.

I haven’t heard of any reports of a jailbroken iPhone causing damage to the cell phone network, or of any virus being spread through the cell phone network. This doesn’t mean it can’t happen, but in over three years of iPhones being jailbroken and being used on cell phone networks around the world, it certainly seems improbable. But I bet you’ve heard of at least one news story where someone used a computer to cause harm to others by stealing their identity. I think a lot of fear, anxiety and doubt is being spread around by the industry with regards to the iPhone and wanting to limit choice.

July 26, 2010

Jailbreaking has been ruled as an exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by the Librarian of Congress. This means jailbreaking is now a legally protected act for the next three years. This case for a DMCA exemption would have to be presented again in three years to the Librarian of Congress to continue to be upheld.

Keep in mind, jailbreaking was NEVER an illegal act despite what many media sources claim. They are wrong. They just like to make wild statements and create a frenzy to feed their ratings so they can charge more for air time to marketers from time to time. I haven't heard of anything jailbreak related going to trial ever, certainly not anything being ruled on by a judge as legal or illegal.

You can read the full statement from the Library of Congress here. The sections that relate to us are:

• (2) Computer programs that enable wireless telephone handsets to execute software applications, where circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of enabling interoperability of such applications, when they have been lawfully obtained, with computer programs on the telephone handset.
• (3) Computer programs, in the form of firmware or software, that enable used wireless telephone handsets to connect to a wireless telecommunications network, when circumvention is initiated by the owner of the copy of the computer program solely in order to connect to a wireless telecommunications network and access to the network is authorized by the operator of the network.

The library's determination and text of the ruling can be found here.

Here's an article from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, who represented jailbreakers from a legal standpoint. They brought our case before the librarian.

Here's an article from CNN on what the Library of Congress ruling means. I find some of the information incorrect with regards to jailbreaking being illegal up until this recent exemption came to be.

It's nice to see main stream media picking up this story. I've appeared in the New York Times, and CNN as a destination website. Hopefully this will bring many new people into the fold. You can click the images below to be taken to those particular articles.

July 19, 2010

Well it seems like Apple is up to their old tricks again. The iPhone Dev Team just posted two hours ago about ECID SHSH blobs being used on 4.0 firmware for all iPhones, now including the 3G. You owe it to yourself to launch Cydia and press the make my life easier button right away. I'm guessing since we are just hearing about this that 3G owners can no longer restore to 4.0 firmware? The dev team's posting on this isn't clear. They do state you can always downgrade to 3.x firmware however since no ECID SHSH blob check is being done. This really isn't that big of a deal as 4.0.1 firmware can be jailbroken and unlocked on the 3G using redsn0w and ultrasn0w. I have a tutorial for it here.

Update: I can not restore to stock 4.0 firmware on my already jailbroken 3G. I CAN restore to a custom 4.0 .ipsw made with PwnageTool however :P You'll receive the same error message as the 3G S owners where Apple states the requested build isn't available for this device, if they don't approve of the firmware you are trying to restore to.




Once you've done this, much like with the 3G S, you'll see the message that your device has a pending TSS request. It only took about twelve hours and I received confirmation of being on file for 4.0.

July 13, 2009 PlanetBeing, from the iPhone Dev Team (and Android porting fame), tweeted just a few minutes ago: "Looks like I now have an unlocked iPhone 4. :)" Now it's just a matter of waiting for Apple to release its signal bar algorithm update and then the team will release their tools. Congrats to PlanetBeing, MuscleNerd and the team!

Below is a video of PlanetBeing discussing the unlock.

April 23, 2010

So I have Android running on my 2G iPhone now. I found a great guide (with only a couple minor errors) here: http://androidalot.com/tag/iphone/   I'll make my own version of this tutorial most likely. In the video below I demonstrate it booting up.

Update: I have posted my tutorial for installing Android here.

April 21, 2010

Android is now running on the iPhone. iPhone Dev Team member PlanetBeing has released prebuilt images and source code. You can read more about this project at PlanetBeing's site here. I'm sure I'll make a tutorial on this... Ok maybe I won't. The read me is pretty intense for a tutorial at this stage.

In the mean time enjoy this video demonstrating it running.