Apple, feds to put squeeze on jailbreaking

Apple is asking the federal government to help crack down on hackers "jailbreaking" the iPhone.
Apple, feds to put squeeze on jailbreaking - WECT TV6 - WECT.com - Wilmington, NC news and weather -

Apple can ask all they want. Jail breaking was declared legal some time ago. LINK

In a way I want this law to be overturned to hacking/jailbreaking is illegal again. Cause it's just so wrong. But on the other hand no legal jailbreaking would cost Apple some hardware sales. As some people buy the iOS devices just to jailbreak them. So it's a hard call.

The US Federal government has more important things to do with it's time, it's manpower and my income tax.

Well Apple is a big portion of the US economy. And it would be a smart move by the US government to make sure Apple is happy.

the8thark said:

Well Apple is a big portion of the US economy. And it would be a smart move by the US government to make sure Apple is happy.

Click to expand...

Is that a threat? Are they going to suddenly move their manufacturing base overseas? Oh wait, it already is overseas. I'd be more sympathetic to spending my money to protect their profit if they ate a little profit and hired a ten or twenty thousand American workers to build their products. China has a more vested interest in enforcing this than the US.

Tell you what, why don't you suggest that Australian taxpayers subsidize the righting of Apple's perceived intellectual property wrongs.

the8thark said:

In a way I want this law to be overturned to hacking/jailbreaking is illegal again. Cause it's just so wrong. But on the other hand no legal jailbreaking would cost Apple some hardware sales. As some people buy the iOS devices just to jailbreak them. So it's a hard call.

Click to expand...

How so? Jailbreaking doesn't hurt the consumer or Apple in any way. If you don't want to jailbreak it, then don't. And why would Apple care if there's jailbroken phones out there (aside from the potential for lost revenue in sales of iOS apps)?

cwa107 said:

And why would Apple care if there's jailbroken phones out there (aside from the potential for lost revenue in sales of iOS apps)?

Click to expand...

Well I don't know. But it seems Apple has a reason for caring about this.

the8thark said:

Well Apple is a big portion of the US economy. And it would be a smart move by the US government to make sure Apple is happy.

Click to expand...

So are numerous other corporation depending on how you define "big portion." I'd also like to think that no government would be driven by a need to keep a specific corporation happy.

the8thark said:

Well I don't know. But it seems Apple has a reason for caring about this.

Click to expand...

It's all about control - and the revenue derived from the App Store. The more prolific Jailbreaking is, the less benefit to Apple's bottom line.

But at the end of the day, I'm concerned about the consumer - and having choice is key.

cwa107 said:

But at the end of the day, I'm concerned about the consumer

Click to expand...

That's because you are one. Self interest .

I agree with one of the commenters there:

This article is so incredibly full of errors and misinformation that I doubt there is any veracity in it at all.

IF there is any truth to any of this, how about doing your job and referencing the actual documentation showing that Apple is asking the feds for help or citing whatever source you may have.

This is lousy reporting at its finest.

You should pull this article, and hire an editor.

Click to expand...

the8thark said:

Self interest .

Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with that.

the8thark said:

In a way I want this law to be overturned to hacking/jailbreaking is illegal again. Cause it's just so wrong. But on the other hand no legal jailbreaking would cost Apple some hardware sales. As some people buy the iOS devices just to jailbreak them. So it's a hard call.

Click to expand...

I bought an ipad to jail brake it. If jail braking wasn't an option, I wouldn't own an iPad. Why is it wrong? Apple would have lost a sale if I couldn't have jailbroken my device. Oh, and get this, whether or not it's deemed illegal doesn't mean that it's going to stop people from doing it.

People have ben exploring the boundaries of hardware and software since the birth of the computer. If it wasn't for people tweaking and hacking then technology wouldn't advance as fast as it has. In fact, I say illegality fuels exploration. Theres people that do stuff just because authority figures say they can't.

cwa107 said:

It's all about control - and the revenue derived from the App Store. The more prolific Jailbreaking is, the less benefit to Apple's bottom line.

But at the end of the day, I'm concerned about the consumer - and having choice is key.

Click to expand...

I've not downloaded a lot from cydia, the apps I have downloaded are because there's no real option available in the app store. I've still spent a lot of money purchasing apps through the app store regardless of being jail broken. There's nothing that says you get either or; that's the best part, being able to expand the functionality of the device past what it was intended so that it better suits your needs.

XJ-linux said:

The US Federal government has more important things to do with it's time, it's manpower and my income tax.

Click to expand...

Which means they'll do it. Lord knows they don't want to do anything useful half the time.

Read the first comment of the OPs linked article too.

Really don't see this happening... Especially as was already said, Jailbreaking was already declared legal. I love Apple to death. But the simple fact is, once a person buys something, whether it's in an agreement or not, how can they ever expect to maintain control over what the person does with the item they purchased free and clear? If they want to spraypaint it red, run over it with an ice cream truck, jailbreak it, or throw it out the window, they've got no control over that, and should not have. I highly doubt the Federal Government of the USA or any other nation will be putting the squeeze on Jailbreakers.

As long as Jailbreaking is here, it will be on my iphone on and off at times. I don't care what Apple has to say about it...there are just too many pros for it for people to not be able to use...someone will figure out a jailbreak no matter what Apple does to prevent it, or actions they seek to punish jbers.

Actually if I was Apple I would take the JBing idea as ways to improve. As people JB their iOS devices cause it does something the standard iOS software can't to or won't allow. In an ideal world you would not need to JB as the device would do everything you want it to do. So in short the way to combat this is to make iOS is such a way that most of the community don't feel the need to do so cause the standard iOS has all they need.

Sure the few hackers will JB it still just cause they can. But if iOS was better then the rest would not need to JB.

Like true multitasking.