Apple says jailbreaking can crash towers and support drug dealers

[Applejuiced]

Its not happening.
Do you really think that a single cell phone can bring a tower down and theres nothing in place to stop such an event happening?
If you do, you're more deluded than Apple.
If utilizing the baseband processor for an attack against a cell tower would be any potential threat, it would have been done with any other cellphone out there already. Cell towers are designed (by hardware and software) to deflect these kinds of attempts
Apple or you is not making any real sense here, they're just making a silly case to protect their business model. It's a lie, it's a bluff, it's a scam...

I simply asked if it was true that you could bring down a cell tower with an jailbroken iPhone or make free calls by tinkering with the ID.

Why is this hard for you to understand?

 

[strike1555]

What has happened and what could happen are two different things. The real question is - Is it more likely to happen if jailbreaking is legalized?

Should we ban cars because they can be used as weapons?
Are people more likely to commit crimes if guns are not controlled?
Should cell phones be disallowed in schools because they can be used as cheating tools?

..I could go on for hours. Your argument is a fallacy.

 

[BaldiMac]

Should we ban cars because they can be used as weapons?
Are people more likely to commit crimes if guns are not controlled?
Should cell phones be disallowed in schools because they can be used as cheating tools?

..I could go on for hours. Your argument is a fallacy.

Here's my argument:

Regardless of whether the two claims highlighted in this article are true, it's stupid to ban jailbreaking based on what a bad person could do with jailbroken phone. A bad person will jailbreak the phone to do these things even if it is illegal.

Seems to be the same as yours.

 

[BaldiMac]

Do you really think that a single cell phone can bring a tower down and theres nothing in place to stop such an event happening?

Apple never claimed a single cell phone could bring a tower down.

Try reading the actual comments filed by Apple instead of the sensationalized out of context crap in the Wired article. The PDF is linked to in the article.

These BBP and ECID comments were not meant as a justification of why jailbreaking should remain illegal. They were a small part of the response to a direct question as to how a jailbroken phone could affect AT&T's network and support infrastructure.

 

[BaldiMac]

If utilizing the baseband processor for an attack against a cell tower would be any potential threat, it would have been done with any other cellphone out there already. Cell towers are designed (by hardware and software) to deflect these kinds of attempts

Do you really think AT&T is competent enough to have planned for the possibility of multiple phones with the same ECID all trying to connect to the same tower? I don't.

 

[kdarling]

Do you really think AT&T is competent enough to have planned for the possibility of multiple phones with the same ECID all trying to connect to the same tower? I don't.

Heck, ATT wasn't prepared for the iPhone 3G's 2.0x software bug that ramped up each tower's power output until other phones dropped their calls.

Most utilities are ill-prepared for actual attacks until after they've had one.

I recall the early days of wireless data, when one U.S. carrier was attacked with probing pings that almost overwhelmed the network... until they cut off ping access from overseas. Until it happened, no one foresaw the need to do this.

 

[bruinsrme]

Apple never claimed a single cell phone could bring a tower down.

Try reading the actual comments filed by Apple instead of the sensationalized out of context crap in the Wired article. The PDF is linked to in the article.

These BBP and ECID comments were not meant as a justification of why jailbreaking should remain illegal. They were a small part of the response to a direct question as to how a jailbroken phone could affect AT&T's network and support infrastructure.

If I rammed my truck into the generator of a given 3G tower it could interrupt service.

Again, if a hacker has the knowledge on how to hack a cell tower, they surely will have the ability to crack an iphone or anyother phone for that matter to suit their desires.

What about laptops with 3G cards? Now you clearly have a far more powerful device able to tap into the 3G backbone and more than likely the celluar backbone. No fear of those hardware devices causing cdamage.

Apple is losing their desired clone war and it pisses them off that not everyone is marching to Steve Jobs drum of having a boring,expensive and apple resticted device.

Apples comments sound like they are getting desperate as jailbreaking is showing the world just how restrictive and controlling apple really is and how successful apple has been at stifling innovation.

 

[job]

I think it's pretty funny that this didn't make the frontpage of MR, even when every other Apple related news item does.

 

[rhett7660]

I think the drug dealer thing may have been take a little out of context... if you read the pdf....page 12:

For example, each iPhone contains a unique Exclusive Chip Identification (ECID) number that identifies the phone to the cell tower. With access to the BBP via jailbreaking, hackers may be able to change the ECID, which in turn can enable phone calls to be made anonymously (this would be desirable to drug dealers, for example) or charges for the calls to be avoided.

How ever I do think it is funny there is an app for scoring at your local marijuana md office!

 

[-aggie-]

I think it's pretty funny that this didn't make the frontpage of MR, even when every other Apple related news item does.

Doesn't Steve Jobs pay them to run this site?

 

[BaldiMac]

If I rammed my truck into the generator of a given 3G tower it could interrupt service.

Again, if a hacker has the knowledge on how to hack a cell tower, they surely will have the ability to crack an iphone or anyother phone for that matter to suit their desires.

What about laptops with 3G cards? Now you clearly have a far more powerful device able to tap into the 3G backbone and more than likely the celluar backbone. No fear of those hardware devices causing cdamage.

Again, if you read the comments that Apple submitted, they are not saying that that keeping jailbreaking illegal would prevent these unlikely scenarios. The fact that it is illegal won't deter someone who wants to bring down a cellphone tower from jailbreaking their iPhone.

These comments were a response to a direct question about possible problems that a jailbroken device could cause AT&T's network and support infrastructure. We are talking about 2 paragraphs out of a 45 page document that Wired took out of context to sensationalize in search of hits.

Apple is losing their desired clone war and it pisses them off that not everyone is marching to Steve Jobs drum of having a boring,expensive and apple resticted device.

How is Apple currently losing?

Apples comments sound like they are getting desperate as jailbreaking is showing the world just how restrictive and controlling apple really is and how successful apple has been at stifling innovation.

Only if you take them out of context to fit your point of view.

 

[bruinsrme]

How is Apple currently losing?



Only if you take them out of context to fit your point of view.

Jailbreaking is becoming more popular.

Out of context? Show me how to easily install a new theme to a non-jailbroken phone. There seems to be a decent amount of paid programs through cydia that didn't or probably do not meet apples criteria.

I was skeptical about jailbreaking until a friend showed me what he had done to his phone and some of the programs that were available.

I want my phone to be my phone. When I look at it I want to enjoy what I am looking at. That white patterned dock on the stock iphone is horrible to me, Makes the phone look cheap. Just like people theme their screens with various wall papers, icons, screen savers and mouse symbols, I want to set the phone up to my likings.

Apple can't figure out how to let me personalize that without threatening the security celluar network?

What does apple say about the 1 character SMS exploit that is appears to be a serious threat to the phones.
http://www.iclarified.com/entry/index.php?enid=4692 , This seems to be a serious threat to the network and to many users.

 

[TSX]

couldn't they do the same thing on a computer too?

 

[BaldiMac]

Jailbreaking is becoming more popular.

Any evidence to that statement?

Out of context? Show me how to easily install a new theme to a non-jailbroken phone. There seems to be a decent amount of paid programs through cydia that didn't or probably do not meet apples criteria.

I said Apples comments were taken out of context in the Wired article and subsequently in this thread.

I was skeptical about jailbreaking until a friend showed me what he had done to his phone and some of the programs that were available.

I am not against jailbreaking. I do think it is illegal. No need myself.

I want my phone to be my phone. When I look at it I want to enjoy what I am looking at. That white patterned dock on the stock iphone is horrible to me, Makes the phone look cheap. Just like people theme their screens with various wall papers, icons, screen savers and mouse symbols, I want to set the phone up to my likings.

Just because you want something that is not available, doesn't mean it is okay to take it because you can. Everyone has their own morals though.

Apple can't figure out how to let me personalize that without threatening the security celluar network?

They could. It just hasn't been a priority to date. Like cut and paste.

 

[BaldiMac]

couldn't they do the same thing on a computer too?

Yes.

 

[bruinsrme]

Any evidence to that statement? Look at the forums and the newbies asking the how toos. When I got my iphone 2 of the 27 iphone owners at work had jailbroken phones, today 21 of us have them jailbroken. My son now has an iphone and is loking into jailbreaking his with the help of his college friends



I said Apples comments were taken out of context in the Wired article and subsequently in this thread.



I am not against jailbreaking. I do think it is illegal. No need myself.
why illegal?


Just because you want something that is not available, doesn't mean it is okay to take it because you can. Everyone has their own morals though.

What am I taking, am I stealing something?

They could. It just hasn't been a priority to date. Like cut and paste.

But street view was

thank you for sharing your point of view.

 

[TSX]

Did I miss the iDrugDealer app? which cydia repository is it in? Now that's an app I would pay for.

Drug Dealing... There's an app for that.

[/sarcasm]

There are plenty of drug finding app in the apple app store cannibis, chronic-les, ect. Just type in marijuana in search.

So i wonder if their going to close their app store too?

 

[Rat-Boy]

If you're buying that joke of an excuse about drug dealers and other nonsense they put up there then you are a Fanboy

If he is a fan boy, then you are a hater.

Nany Nany Boo Boo!

He didn't defend jack.

He asked if the technical statements were true or not.

 

[BaldiMac]

Look at the forums and the newbies asking the how toos. When I got my iphone 2 of the 27 iphone owners at work had jailbroken phones, today 21 of us have them jailbroken. My son now has an iphone and is loking into jailbreaking his with the help of his college friends

Okay. Anecdotes and forum posts aside, the estimates I see are about 1 million jailbroken iPhones out of more than 25 million sold. Is that growth? Not a very high percentage.

why illegal?

It is likely a violation of copyright law and the DMCA evidenced by the EFF appeal to create an exemption to legalize it. Apple's software is modified in the jailbreak process.

What am I taking, am I stealing something?

"Taking" was a metaphor. Apple doesn't make the theme tools that you want in the OS. So you modified their OS in violation of their copyrights.

But street view was

Evidently. I think that was a pretty stupid priority myself. Probably had more to do with their relationship with Google.

thank you for sharing your point of view.

Nice to have a sane discussion, despite disagreement.

 

[Riemann Zeta]

Drug Dealing... There's an app for that.

Comedy gold!

 

[windywoo]

Doesn't this deserve a spot on page 2?

 

[VulchR]

I had almost decided to buy the new 3GS, but then there were a few news items that are making me reconsider (the Foxconn employee suicide, Apple's attempt to disable the Pre's access to iTunes - using my bandwidth to transfer the update to do it even though I do not own a Pre, restricting apps on the basis of censorship or anti-competitive maneuvers, and now fear-mongering in the worst way). If I do decide to buy a 3GS, I will not break the terms of the agreement. However, I cannot imagine that Apple's stance is ultimately good for either consumers or the company itself.

Imagine the terms and conditions of buying a lawn rake from Apple: "You own the rake, but you can only use the rake for the purposes we determine (you can rake leaves, but not twigs or dirt), you can only use the gardening gloves we approve (but which we do not guarantee in terms of quality, features, or suitability of purpose), and you must use the garbage collection company we tell you to use. One more thing: if the rake is stolen, you're on your own even though each rake has a unique ID that can be traced. Of course we offer a service that will locate and disable your stolen rake, but that costs extra, sucker."