Mozilla backs EFF in iPhone Jailbreak Support

Mozilla has expressed its support to the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s push to have the U.S. Copyright Office allow iPhone jailbreaking.

Mozilla CEO John Lilly said that “choice is good for users, and choice shouldn’t be criminalized,” in light of the dispute between the EFF and Apple over whether or not iPhone jailbreaking–the practice of modifying an iPhone to accept software from sources other than Apple–is a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Apple recently declared that jailbreaking an iPhone is a violation of copyright and can cause problems with the iPhone.

Mozilla have a version of the Firefox mobile browser, Fennec, which would obviously be a great addition to the iPhone for Firefox fans but Lilly admitted that Mozilla would probably not develop an iPhone version of Fennec even if Apple was forced to open up the iPhone.

“Given the choice, would we work on a platform where the sole company controlling it makes us unwelcome, or would we work on a platform, like Linux, where we are welcome? The answer is going to be easy for us,” said Lilly.

Get your free iPhone and see what all the fuss is about.

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• Apple says jailbreaking is illegal (tuaw.com)

Apple: iPhone Jailbreak hack violates the law

Hacking an iPhone is against the law, Apple has argued in comments filed with the U.S. Copyright Office.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) believe this to be the first public statement from Apple about its legal position on “jailbreaking,” – hacking an iPhone to install third-party applications not sold via Apple’s own App Store.

According to Apple, jailbreaking an iPhone breaks the law because the process relies on pirated copies of the bootloader and operating system.

“Infringing reproductions of those works are created each time they are downloaded through Pwnage Tool and loaded onto the iPhone,” said Apple.

Apple also argue that a jailbroken iPhone leads to even more piracy. “In addition, the jailbroken OS enabled pirated copies of Apple copyrighted content and other third-party content such as games and applications to play on the iPhone, resulting in further infringing uses of copyrighted works and diminished incentive to create those works in the first place.”

Yesterday, the EFF IP expert had this to say about Apple’s statement:

“Apple justifies [its position] by claiming that opening the iPhone to independently created applications will compromise safety, security, reliability and swing the doors wide for those who want to run pirated software,” said Lohmann in an EFF blog. “If this sounds like FUD [fear, uncertainty and doubt], that’s because it is.”

Elsewhere, Lohmann called Apple’s take on jailbreaking an “absurdity.”

“One need only transpose Apple’s arguments to the world of automobiles to recognize their absurdity,” Lohmann said. “General Motors might tell us that, for our own safety, all servicing should be done by an authorized GM dealer using only genuine GM parts. But we’d never accept this corporate paternalism as a justification for welding every car hood shut and imposing legal liability on car buffs tinkering in their garages.”

Click here to get yourself a free iphone and if you do jailbreak it, visit my Yellowsnow page to find out how to unlock your iPhone to all networks.

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• Apple: Jailbreaking Your iPhone is a Crime (technologizer.com)
• Apple Says Jailbreaking iPhones Is Illegal, Dammit [Apple] (i.gizmodo.com)

yellowsn0w 0.9.5 released

Just a quick post to let you know 0.9.5 has now been released which will solve a whole bunch of small issues including STK issues and outgoing calls. Refresh your Cydia/Installer sources and you should see it. Please post back your results after trying it.

Go to the yellowsn0w download page for the Cydia/Installer repos.

Remember though – this is still in beta.  If you are concerned about ‘bricking’ your iPhone you should wait until version 1.0 is released.

yellowsn0w 0.9.4 beta released

For those of you that had ‘reinsertion’ issues – this update should solve your problems. Go over to www.yellowsn0w.net to download now, or grab it here.

The beta version of yellowsn0w 0.9.4 is out and it should fix reinsertion issues for many users. If you haven’t tried it yet I suggest you give it a try now! REMEMBER, it’s still in beta so you may have problems. The yellowsn0w download is in the Cydia repo mentioned on the yellowsn0w page. Post any comments or problems you have over there.

Now everyone can unlock their 3G iPhone for free!

Yellowsn0w released – unlock your 3G iPhone for all networks

Download yellowsn0w – click here

Yellowsn0w has been released! This is yellowsn0w version 0.9 and it’s still in beta so use it at your own risk.

Note: You must upgrade to the latest 02.28 baseband (firmware 2.2) in order to use this unlock and also jailbreak with QuickPWN/PwnageTool and add Cydia/Installer.

Here is the iPhone 3G firmware 2.2 download link:
http://appldnld.apple.com.edgesuite.net/content.info.apple.com/iPhone/061-5778.20081120.Aqw4R/iPhone1,2_2.2_5G77_Restore.ipsw

You can install yellowsn0w 3G unlock by using either Cydia or Installer, whichever you prefer. Below is a list of the repos/sources.

Note: The DevTeam also says that once you are done installing yellowsn0w through Cydia go back to the main menu on Cydia and restart your iPhone with the 3rd party SIM installed. Wait for the slide to unlock screen, and then wait 10-15 seconds. If you don’t see your carrier name pop up you must remove your SIM, insert it again, and wait 10 seconds. (The DevTeam plans on eliminating this step in future releases).

Cydia Repos: http://apt9.yellowsn0w.com/

Installer sources: http://i.yellowsn0w.com/