Selling a tool used for cyber warfare i.e. iPhone "exploits" to North Korea would most definitely be regarded as treason by the United States. It makes no difference that Apple owns iOS. Most hackers selling vulnerabilities to governments are smart enough to know that you don't sell said vulnerabilities to governments that are not friendly to your own.
I really don't need anyone to define what treason means. In fact the example using North Korea is quite out there, it's like someone using the example of a giant meteor falling on their heads justifying why nobody should ever walk outside.
I'll use a better example more likely a more realistic one. How's about competing companies within the US? How much would other software companies be willing to pay... this is what I meant by what these "black hatters" may want.
It would be treason beccause you'd be selling information that would allow a foreign power (which is considered an enemy state) to spy on Americans. iOS devices are also being deployed in various US government departments - granted they probably wouldn't trust top-secret information to an iPhone or iPad; but if someone can intercept network traffic through a compromised iPhone, that can still yield valuable information.
Again why you chose to define what treason means after the previous poster did... smh.
First of all iOS devices are NOT being "deployed" in government departments, iOS devices are not authorized for official US government business, only BB devices on the RIM network are allowed for official business use. iOS devices may be used for
personal use and non-FOUO business only. I won't go into how each classificiation level of information since you obviously don't understand the basics of how FOUO, Secret or TS data is handled in relation to a mobile device. Even the GSA is not authorized to deploy any iOS device, in fact the non-FOUO devices they currently distribute are Motorola Droid devices.
The iOS hackers aren't really even blackhatters. Everything I've seen about them (with the possible exception if i0n1c) is that they're generally upright people. Especially the dev-team which insists that people donate to a charity if they feel the need to give anyone money. They're against stealing in any form, and try to abide by all laws. People who are greedy enough to just sell to the highest-bidder no matter what the consequences are don't think like that. Hackers are not the same as arms dealers.
That's just ignorance. The ones most visible to you, those that are out there to assist with getting JB's out for public distribution would likely fall into the white hatter category but that's highly not the case when it comes to ALL iOS hackers. If the Forbes article is correct in that there's a huge payload out there, then there's obviously black hatters out there.
Why would i0n1c be an exception? Is he treasonous? Is he a black hatter? I see no evidence of either, in fact I often see his tweets complaining about how others profit off his work. The biggest "crime" I see about him is not sharing his work, but I see nothing technically wrong with that. It's no different from someone showing up at your house flaunting a Veyron and not allowing you to touch it. You seem to think you have a right to his work or something, if he chooses not to share it, that's his choice whether you or I don't like it.
i0n1c's behavior may not be new, but that doesn't make it acceptable. I'm not even all that upset - pretty much everyone else in the JB scene is more than willing to share their work. I just think he's deliberately being an *******. If I had a skill that others wanted/needed, and I didn't want to share it, I just wouldn't make it known that I could do what they're asking.
What do you mean "acceptable"? Are you saying that you have a right to all of the iOS hackers' work? I don't see why you would be upset at all, I'm sure not. I appreciate all the work the dev-team and what pod2g does, so much that I really don't care when the JB comes out. If I
needed a JB to enjoy my iPhone I wouldn't have one in the first place, it'd be better to go with an Android, root it if necessary. I enjoy my iPhone as-is, the JB makes it better but it's not why I have the device.