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Correct me if I'm wrong, but this doesn't stop Apple from refusing to service your jailbroken iPhone does it? Big news and all, but it seems to me the issue was

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this doesn't stop Apple from refusing to service your jailbroken iPhone does it? Big news and all, but it seems to me the issue was that Apple would make a fuss and void your warranty, not that people were getting arrested.

smokinn 16y ago
Apple has maintained for quite a while that jailbreaking your iPhone is a criminal offence. So no, the fear was not only of a voided warranty.
- jonhohle 16y ago
  > Apple has maintained… I don't recall Apple ever mentioning jailbreaking, let alone threatening that it was a criminal act. During the initial iPhone announcement there was talk about the supposed dangers of letting any particular app free on AT&Ts mobile network, but since then I can't recall a time when either a phone manufacturer or a service provider has said anything about the legality of jailbreaking, SEEM editing, etc.
  - orangecat 16y ago
    In Apple's response to the EFF's request for a DMCA exemption, they said that jailbreaking was and should remain illegal. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/02/apple-says-jailbreaking-illegal http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/02/apple-says-jailbreaking...
    - jonhohle 16y ago
      I stand corrected. I had misunderstood the concern being the distribution of modified, Apple owned software (similar to the Psystar case), but this appears to be a system which patches the software in place, without requiring redistribution of Apple IP.
patrickk 16y ago
It's very, very easy to reset your iPhone to it's default state, you simply plug it in to your computer, and click "Restore" in iTunes. Apple doesn't have to know anything :-) I think you would have to be very silly to send a jailbroken iPhone to Apple to be serviced if Apple claim it's "illegal" to do so.
- DirtyAndy 16y ago
  I guess that would depend on why you were sending your phone to Apple to get fixed. If it is completely dead then you are not going to be able to reset it but they may well know it has been jailbroken once they fix it.
- gojomo 16y ago
  A step that depends on ITunes still depends on Apple's forbearance -- if they really wanted to stop this, they could have ITunes either (a) phone home reporting each 'restore' of an iPhone, and its previous state, by its unique ID; (b) leave a small notation in the 'restored' state about its previous state. It'd simply be the digital equivalent of the stickers that indicate if a unit has been opened or exposed to moisture.
  - jrockway 16y ago
    Thing is, Apple's shareholders would like Apple to stay in business for a while. Apple's "it's a crime" talk is to scare casual users away from jailbreaking to get pirated software. But they know that experienced users, the ones that write the apps that draw the inexperienced users to the platform, want to jailbreak. And, those users want a warranty. And, they don't want to piss off those users, many of whom have hardware-review blogs. So my guess is that Apple is not going to void warranties for jailbreaking. If they start doing that, it's going to be really good for Android and really bad for Apple.

smokinn 16y ago

Apple has maintained for quite a while that jailbreaking your iPhone is a criminal offence. So no, the fear was not only of a voided warranty.

jonhohle 16y ago
> Apple has maintained… I don't recall Apple ever mentioning jailbreaking, let alone threatening that it was a criminal act. During the initial iPhone announcement there was talk about the supposed dangers of letting any particular app free on AT&Ts mobile network, but since then I can't recall a time when either a phone manufacturer or a service provider has said anything about the legality of jailbreaking, SEEM editing, etc.
- orangecat 16y ago
  In Apple's response to the EFF's request for a DMCA exemption, they said that jailbreaking was and should remain illegal. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/02/apple-says-jailbreaking-illegal http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/02/apple-says-jailbreaking...
  - jonhohle 16y ago
    I stand corrected. I had misunderstood the concern being the distribution of modified, Apple owned software (similar to the Psystar case), but this appears to be a system which patches the software in place, without requiring redistribution of Apple IP.

patrickk 16y ago

It's very, very easy to reset your iPhone to it's default state, you simply plug it in to your computer, and click "Restore" in iTunes. Apple doesn't have to know anything :-) I think you would have to be very silly to send a jailbroken iPhone to Apple to be serviced if Apple claim it's "illegal" to do so.

DirtyAndy 16y ago
I guess that would depend on why you were sending your phone to Apple to get fixed. If it is completely dead then you are not going to be able to reset it but they may well know it has been jailbroken once they fix it.
gojomo 16y ago
A step that depends on ITunes still depends on Apple's forbearance -- if they really wanted to stop this, they could have ITunes either (a) phone home reporting each 'restore' of an iPhone, and its previous state, by its unique ID; (b) leave a small notation in the 'restored' state about its previous state. It'd simply be the digital equivalent of the stickers that indicate if a unit has been opened or exposed to moisture.
- jrockway 16y ago
  Thing is, Apple's shareholders would like Apple to stay in business for a while. Apple's "it's a crime" talk is to scare casual users away from jailbreaking to get pirated software. But they know that experienced users, the ones that write the apps that draw the inexperienced users to the platform, want to jailbreak. And, those users want a warranty. And, they don't want to piss off those users, many of whom have hardware-review blogs. So my guess is that Apple is not going to void warranties for jailbreaking. If they start doing that, it's going to be really good for Android and really bad for Apple.