I don’t think apple should try to break the hacks, but they’re under no obligation to make sure that their updates don’t interfere with every 3rd party modification out there.

You should have written: Imagine if installing an unlicensed mod to my BIOS caused my machine to be bricked at the next BIOS update.

Hmmm, gee, thats EXACTLY what happens. And, no, ASUS doesn’t do it deliberately.

Geeks with soldering irons. Spare me.

They could have very easily displayed a message to the effect of “You’ve hacked your iPhone. No Update For You!” which seems like a reasonable response.

In fact, it’s downright bad programming for a software patch not to validate the checksums of the files it’s patching…

Incorrect. the best car analogy would be a car with an in-car computer that only allows you to drive normally on Apple roads, and charges you a “roaming” fee if you use anyone else’s roads. Modifying it to work with any road, as you expect when you buy a car, requires a hack that voids your warranty. Warranties, and the ability to upgrade, are worth money: so you either lose money in losing the warranty, or you lose money through the roaming fee.

Lose-lose for the buyer.

Personally, while I think they have a case, I still hope the judge says “Haha, unless you’re retarded, you *knew* you were buying a $600 DRM-enabled, provider-locked crippleware iBrick, but you still just *had* to have it because it was the latest thing, and you believed the hype about Apple being the ‘good-guy underdog’, just like you probably believe Google’s ‘do no evil’ mantra. Come back when you have a real phone, you ignorant, pretentious, artsy twat.”

No hack needed. You have always been able to remove the DRM from DRM AAC files purchased from iTunes Store by burning them on to a CD and re-importing them back into iTunes. Apple actually told you how to do this so you can convert the DRM ACC files purchased from iTune Store to play on the MP3 player of your choice. There goes your other misconception on how Apple locks your iTunes Store purchase to an iPod.

Majors labels are dropping DRM because over 90% of the music sold are DRM free in the form of CD’s. It makes no sense to support DRM in downloaded music and MP3 players when you can get it on a CD DRM free, without MP3 compression. Most illegal music on the internet originally came from CD’s. It was the major labels that required the DRM in iTunes Store purchased music in the first place. Apple agreed to DRM to get the contract to sell the music. They now want to get rid of DRM and may now have enough clout to get the label to do so. Or at least ease up on its’ restrictions.

Thgh Cry’s ffbs shrll whnng bt ppl nd DRM nnsns ws ld frm hs frst nnsnscl rtcl whr h ld t hs ght yr ld ntcs sns fcts f thngs (lk hw ppl hd sgnd th dls wth bg lbls, ltr T&T wntd dl, bt Cry nvr lts fcts gt n th wy f hs ppl whnng), n wy ths ppl my hv hd cs… F THY HD BRNS! Whch gss prtcts thm frm zmbs, tht’s gd thng spps.

Thy knw tht ppl’s Phn ws, rght r wrng, lckd t th T&T ntwrk (nd why rn’t thy sng T&T, wh s prt f th cntrct t s th phn, hmmm, cnvnnt), thy knw ppl hd md th Phn clsd systm, thn thy knw hckng th Phn cld sppsd brck t, thn ppl wrnd tht th pdt my brck t, thn t brckd t, thn thy’r sng fr rdcls mnt f mny lk whnng chlds, rght p Cry’s lly, nd lwyrs, bt nt rlly th ntrst f tr lgl cs. ‘m gssng ths sm lgnts fr brns n nthr pln f xstnc wld chg bttl f Drn wth t’s bg “CTN: D NT DRNK,” drnk t, d, cm bck s ghsts nd s th mkrs f Drn fr nt llwng thm t drnk t, gnrng th fct f thr’s bg gnt yllw lblng vrywhr tllng ppl nt t drnk t.

nthr lttl nt, cnvnntly vrlkd by whnrs lk Cry/ths sshts sng, lst tm chckd, thr wr thr phns n th mrkt, crrct? Lk f y dn’t lk Tns (Cry gn nd hs ffbs ssptns t’s Jbs/ppl, ctlly t’s th dls wth th dvl, .. lbls, NT ppl) g t mzn, dn’t lk mzn, g t tht FGLY P..S. Mcrsck bndls wth t’s glr P..S. Zn. Dn’t lk Mcrsck’s plyr? s Lmwr. r hr’s cncpt… BY CDs! Dn’t lk th Phn’s clsd systm… BY NTHR PHN! Thr’s tn f smrt phns t thr, mny, rgbly, hv bttr ftr st thn th Phn nd, ys, y cn nlck, pt thrd prty pps, tc.

Snc whn s t bsnss’s bsnss t kss th ss f vry ssht cnsmr? ‘m bt f sclst/cptlst myslf, bt th cptlst nd f thngs s tht, f thr’s chc, tht’s prbbly gd fr cnsmrs, nd N by chc, dn’t mn cnsmr shld b fr t hv mnfctrr X, Y, Z, mk vry dvc t mks t tht whny cnsmrs whms nd wnts. Hy, my Tyt Rv4 wn’t tk th ngn frm Lmbrghn Gllrd. h ns! Ths s Tyt’s flt! shld b bl t pt th ngn f Gllrd n my Tyt nd Tyt shld mk t s cn, t’s my rght!!!

m, n, jst lk n, Cry, t’s nt YR rght t tll mnfctrrs hw t mk thr prdct, s STF wth yr ntcs, thy’r trd nd lwys llnfrmd, dl wth cptlsm whn t wrks. nd n, rdcls lw st ppl lkng fr fr rd nd mny mny tms mr thn yr Qs, f y cn’t rd th fn prnt nd s ths tny lttl thngs n yr hd, sm lk t cll thm brns, d th wrld fvr, stp brthng! n ths rdcls ltgs g whr ppl s t f stpdty, ths s clrly n f thm, nd hp th jdg lghs ths n t f crt, ddng “dd y try Tr? Hw bt Blckbrry? Dd y s tht nw (crppy M$ Mbl) dvc? Hw bt tht Cntr? NW GT TH HLL T F MY CRTRM!!!”

hhh dr t drm.

Isn’t the neat thing about building robust and flexible IP rules that people can contract into and out-of all kinds of things? I’m sorry Apple is being lame about their service options, but the trick is just not buy the product.

I don’t know what revisionist history you’ve been smoking, but the iTunes+iPod combo was DRM-free from day one — no hacking required.

Plain old mp3, aac, aiff and wav until the iTunes store came around, and that just added protected aac to the list of existing formats.

You can run your own code on any other “smart phone” from AT&T without violating your warranty.

AT&T will give you the unlock code for any other phone if you call and ask them for it.

Every other time AT&T requires a contract, they give you something (a free phone, a cheaper rate plan, etc.). With iPhone, you get nothing but the privilege of buying a phone.

A class action suit won’t make me rich in any scenario. The court would award any damages or settlement to all members of the class, which could be everyone with an iPhone.

This is about getting the industry to change its practices. Beyond voting with dollars, one of the tools mere consumers have to shape industry practices is the courts.

Thanks, pablos.

You make one assumption that isn’t valid – there are motherboards that once bricked can be unbricked by the consumer

I consider it a recall worthy flaw that any consumer device could be bricked by consumer actions without opening the case. There needs to be enough ROM to allow a clean flash.

I think what people forget here is that since the ouster of Gil Amelio and the restoration of Steve Jobs to the throne, Apple’s business model has been to control every aspect of their products to the greatest extent possible, and this has extended to the iPod and iPhone.

This isn’t necessarily greed. For example, Apple could make a pile of money licensing OSX to run on non-Apple hardware, especially since switching to x86. (People might argue this might hurt their core business, but Microsoft hasn’t done too poorly in the OS business.) But one contributing factor to why OSX is far superior to Windows is that Apple does control the hardware OSX runs on, or at least that is what Apple seems to believe.

So while iTunes is tightly integrated with Apple software (apart from the reasonably priced iLife, all free) people scream “proprietary” and “greed,” but I’m more likely to believe that Apple is trying to control the total user experience, which they believe they can do better than anyone else, and they may be right.

Likewise, tying the iPhone to a service plan with AT&T isn’t necessarily a money-grubbing deal with the devil, albeit not necessarily the best choice of carriers. And frankly, I expected much more from the iPhone, but I didn’t expect it to be unlocked, and I don’t expect any company to warranty or support a product if I go at it with a soldering iron. What’s more, early adaptors of new products always get screwed one way or another.

But look at it this way: if you laid out six C-notes for a cell phone, you must be doing pretty well, and if you had the balls to hack a $600 phone, you are either doing exceptionally well or are dangerously compulsive. In the second case, you have bigger problems, but you should all get a better grasp of reality and perhaps give thanks that you can afford to be so stupid.

this is from someone who hasn’t picked a side on the issue. but just so you know, your postulate is bogus.

It’s nice of a carrier to give out unlock codes through its help-line, but it’s not a big deal, as you could just look the codes up on the web just as well. For the iPhone, no such code is known, so you can’t look it up, and AT&T can’t help you with that either, but they just have no choice in the matter, it’s not like they’re actually treating iPhone users differently. Furthermore, there’s no plan of non-locked iPhones being available anytime soon, so it’s not that surprising that the devices don’t seem to support this ‘feature’. Other phones are available in expensive contract-free versions, which are bought by a tiny fraction of consumers. But, again, it’s not surprising that Apple is not offering this alternative, for many years they’ve been very focused on streamlining their product line-up and not offering any special models for fringe groups.

When AT&T requires a contract, they (hopefully) give you what the contract says they have to give you. There ain’t no such thing as a free phone, you’re paying for it through your monthly fees. (Actually, the Nokia I have was once offered here in Austria for practically nothing by Hutchinson, with a cheap contract, and it came already unlocked. Hutchinson Austria slid very, very deep into the red numbers that quarter.) Others cost a couple hundred bucks to buy with a contract, but still are significantly more expensive without contract. The iPhone is not an iota different in this regard, there just is no more expensive contract-free version available for comparison.

This sucks, but it’s been widely publicised months before iPhones were available for purchase. Being mad at Apple for fulfilling their part of a contract you signed is just stupid. When you find a product inacceptable, boycot the manufacturer and urge others to do the same! Lawsuits are for when someone actually did something wrong, such as not keeping their part of a contract.

Most people don’t even know that there are phones, PDAs and handheld gaming consoles that run Open Source/Free operating systems and software; buying more Apple products is not the solution. Am I a horrible person for not having any empathy for people who buy a web-surfing, music-playing, movie-playing, photo-showing über-phone and then complain that it doesn’t do enough? Going for the manufacturer famed for their closed, proprietary systems of legendary out-of-the-box-it-just-works-ease-of-use and then complain that it’s not the best device for hackers and home-brewers?

Whoops, sorry about the raving loony pathos, it’s just that my heart bleeds when people are fighting for a very worthy cause, but only after they’ve given tons of cash to a big corporation that can now hire the best lawyers in the country.

P.S. Thanks for the EULA-like PDF. A great read for sci-fi fans.

29 was in reply to the honorable dculberson.

and the name calling related posts were to MSCOT

I know, it’s the nature of the internet, and I see your point, but I wanted to add to the comments that I don’t think he’s a nutjob.