7 ms·

Does that justify spending (presumably) tons of money and time on trying to prevent power users from jailbreaking?

by dimarco 17y ago

ErrantX 17y ago
Yes, because if it is non-trivial then more people will do it...
protomyth 17y ago
The enterprise is the justification. If a device is stolen and can be jail broken, then the remote wipe and where is tools won't work.
- spicyj 17y ago
  As it is, thieves can simply remove the corporate email account from the device and then it will no longer communicate with the server.
lionhearted 17y ago
They apparently think it does. Philosophically and personally, I prefer more open platforms, but it's one of two things - either they're running some cost/benefit analysis that says it's a good move strategically - more sales or easier to preserve a better brand image or more secondary sales. Or, and this is quite possible too, they agree to some basic security measures by contract with a partner of theirs - perhaps AT&T in Apple's case.
- sjs 17y ago
  Not to mention the media cartels.
jws 17y ago
What ton's of money? Not supporting an ssh server hardly costs anything. Encrypting updates is essentially no engineering once you are digitally signing them for integrity. I'd like to enhance the firmware of my airport express units, but the firmware encryption stops me. It annoys me, but it didn't cost apple anything to do it.
- jrockway 17y ago
  OTOH, it didn't cost Linksys anything to make the WRT54G hackable. And guess who sold massively more units.
  - ams6110 17y ago
    AFAIK Linksys did not intentionally make the WRT54G hackable; they were forced into releasing the OS source when it was found that it was based on GPLed linux components.
    - jrockway 17y ago
      But they have released several totally new routers that are advertised as being hackable. See the marketing copy here: http://www.amazon.com/Cisco-Linksys-WRT160NL-Wireless-N-Broadband-Compatible/dp/B0028N6VLE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1270421023&sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.com/Cisco-Linksys-WRT160NL-Wireless-N-Broa... Specifically, "The Linux-based open source Wireless-N Broadband Router with Storage Link (WRT160NL) was created specially for hobbyists and wireless aficionados."
      - masomenos 17y ago
        Exactly. Just bought one of those for that exact reason, and will likely be purchasing a few more shortly.
  - ShabbyDoo 17y ago
    I understand Apple's motivation for control although I'm not sure I like it. However, Linksys/Cisco is just selling commodity hardware for low margins. It's not razors & razorblades, and there's no ecosystem to manage. Why should they care if their hardware is used with 3rd party software? I wouldn't have bought my WRT54GL's if I couldn't run DD-WRT on them.
  - jodrellblank 17y ago
    And guess which is cheaper and available from more places.
jsz0 17y ago
I doubt Apple is spending much money to stop jailbreakers. They just don't make it easy. In most cases these jailbreak methods are exploiting unrelated bugs to get root access on the phone. Stuff Apple has to fix. For example: The 2.x Safari jailbreak method. If you look at other closed platforms like gaming consoles you can see some serious anti-cracking efforts. The Xbox 360 for example has a very sophisticated security system. Microsoft scans devices for known exploits and even bans them from Xbox Live for life if found. Apple could make iTunes check the device for modifications. They could force the device to constantly report back to Apple and report a modified device. They could ban the device from accessing the App Store. All things considered Apple isn't going overboard to stop jailbreaking. I would guess it's just folded into the iPhone OS security team's normal day to day work.
- dbz 17y ago
  What happened to privacy?
  - gloob 17y ago
    People didn't care.
- jrockway 17y ago
  They could do that. They could also go out of business if they keep harming their customers like that.
  - semanticist 17y ago
    Microsoft are still selling X-Boxes.
    - jrockway 17y ago
      At a loss.
      - edmccaffrey 17y ago

Does that justify spending (presumably) tons of money and time on trying to prevent power users from jailbreaking?

by dimarco 17y ago

Does that justify spending (presumably) tons of money and time on trying to prevent power users from jailbreaking?

ErrantX 17y ago

Yes, because if it is non-trivial then more people will do it...

protomyth 17y ago

The enterprise is the justification. If a device is stolen and can be jail broken, then the remote wipe and where is tools won't work.

spicyj 17y ago
As it is, thieves can simply remove the corporate email account from the device and then it will no longer communicate with the server.

lionhearted 17y ago

They apparently think it does. Philosophically and personally, I prefer more open platforms, but it's one of two things - either they're running some cost/benefit analysis that says it's a good move strategically - more sales or easier to preserve a better brand image or more secondary sales. Or, and this is quite possible too, they agree to some basic security measures by contract with a partner of theirs - perhaps AT&T in Apple's case.

sjs 17y ago
Not to mention the media cartels.

jws 17y ago

What ton's of money? Not supporting an ssh server hardly costs anything. Encrypting updates is essentially no engineering once you are digitally signing them for integrity. I'd like to enhance the firmware of my airport express units, but the firmware encryption stops me. It annoys me, but it didn't cost apple anything to do it.

jrockway 17y ago
OTOH, it didn't cost Linksys anything to make the WRT54G hackable. And guess who sold massively more units.
- ams6110 17y ago
  AFAIK Linksys did not intentionally make the WRT54G hackable; they were forced into releasing the OS source when it was found that it was based on GPLed linux components.
  - jrockway 17y ago
    But they have released several totally new routers that are advertised as being hackable. See the marketing copy here: http://www.amazon.com/Cisco-Linksys-WRT160NL-Wireless-N-Broadband-Compatible/dp/B0028N6VLE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1270421023&sr=1-1 http://www.amazon.com/Cisco-Linksys-WRT160NL-Wireless-N-Broa... Specifically, "The Linux-based open source Wireless-N Broadband Router with Storage Link (WRT160NL) was created specially for hobbyists and wireless aficionados."
    - masomenos 17y ago
      Exactly. Just bought one of those for that exact reason, and will likely be purchasing a few more shortly.
- ShabbyDoo 17y ago
  I understand Apple's motivation for control although I'm not sure I like it. However, Linksys/Cisco is just selling commodity hardware for low margins. It's not razors & razorblades, and there's no ecosystem to manage. Why should they care if their hardware is used with 3rd party software? I wouldn't have bought my WRT54GL's if I couldn't run DD-WRT on them.
- jodrellblank 17y ago
  And guess which is cheaper and available from more places.

jsz0 17y ago

I doubt Apple is spending much money to stop jailbreakers. They just don't make it easy. In most cases these jailbreak methods are exploiting unrelated bugs to get root access on the phone. Stuff Apple has to fix. For example: The 2.x Safari jailbreak method. If you look at other closed platforms like gaming consoles you can see some serious anti-cracking efforts. The Xbox 360 for example has a very sophisticated security system. Microsoft scans devices for known exploits and even bans them from Xbox Live for life if found. Apple could make iTunes check the device for modifications. They could force the device to constantly report back to Apple and report a modified device. They could ban the device from accessing the App Store. All things considered Apple isn't going overboard to stop jailbreaking. I would guess it's just folded into the iPhone OS security team's normal day to day work.

dbz 17y ago
What happened to privacy?
- gloob 17y ago
  People didn't care.
jrockway 17y ago
They could do that. They could also go out of business if they keep harming their customers like that.
- semanticist 17y ago
  Microsoft are still selling X-Boxes.
  - jrockway 17y ago
    At a loss.
    - edmccaffrey 17y ago