Originally Posted by Snowbird

Cyberface,

George Holz' exploit was provided freely and openly to all. iPhoneSimFree has asked that you pay for their solution and have even setup a website that will be used to receive payments via many different means. There is a very large difference as far as the law is concerned. The only exception being when said free “information” jeopardises national security.

Re: the Dev Team's exploits. For Apple, the Dev team fulfils an invaluable function for them that will only contribute to making their product better and securer in the future. Their works are benevolent and welcome to all, since it opens the door for add-ons and new uses that even Apple haven’t thought about.

Yes I know that. From what it appears, the firms selling their purported software unlocks are trying to sell to resellers rather than the general public. And if they restrict sales of their tools to jurisdictions where said tools are legal then how are they under direct threat of legal action?

FWIW I don't make as clear a distinction as you do between Hotz, the Dev Team and the guys trying to sell a 'software unlock' (which so far appears not to exist). After all, as soon as the Dev Team release a 'free' software unlock, there will be firms capitalising on the majority of users' inability to use the command line and reselling the Dev Team's work. Just as current firms are reselling Hotz's *public domain* knowledge.

If the simple act of unlocking a phone was such a threat then Apple would try to stamp it out at the source, not let the benevolent hackers publish free tools and then going after those trying to resell the information. You can't get the genie back in the bottle after all.

Don't take this as a slur on the Dev Team - I thoroughly support them and consider their work essential to the appeal of the iPhone (at least to me). But as soon as they release a 'free' tool, you can bet that there'll be people using the tool to sell unlocked iPhones or automated software unlocks. Same net effect as whether the tool was originally developed by the Dev Team or by Uniquephones, IMO.

Now if you're a lawyer the exact law you can use against the unlockers will differ depending on whether monetary gain is involved IIRC, but the net result is the same. If Apple / AT&T are desperate to prevent unlocked phones on the market, then they would have closed Hotz's blog. After all plenty of backstreet phone shops are now using his tools and methods to **sell** unlocked iPhones...

Have we already passed 48 hours? I just wanna know when that will be.

I wonder if DVD Jon had charged when he got the ball rolling, how much he would have made. I could see the temptation of charging for it, although I think the profit model will not last long once the software has begun being distributed.

Originally Posted by mihaK

Have we already passed 48 hours? I just wanna know when that will be.

I think it's about 6 hours from now.