back to article Hacker rattles 21,000 iPhone unlockers

Hackers have mailed 21,000 customers of iPhoneUnlockUK to remind them the company uses unlicensed software, and that their details have been compromised. E-mails were sent out to customers of the iPhone unlocking service, with claims that iPhoneUnlockUK is guilty of stealing software and selling it illegally. The mail goes on …

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  1. Michael C

    Dumb people

    Look, If you're going to hack something, especially if it's of questionable legal footing to do so, NEVER exchange identity information that could lead back to you, or the device or the software youre hacking, and especially, don't pay for it!

    This is common sense, when doing something potentially illegal, don't leave a trail!

    This is one of the reasons I have not hacked my iPhone. (the others basically fall to I really don't see any software of use I have to hank my device for, and I'm completely happy with AT&Ts service in my are, it's much better than the competition's service quality)

    1. Confuciousmobil
      Thumb Down

      Illegal?

      Jailbreaking and unlocking are in no way illegal.

  2. DJV Silver badge
    Grenade

    FastHosts? Hacked?

    Situation normal then...

  3. Confuciousmobil
    FAIL

    Oh Dear...

    Jody Sanders offered George Hotz $10,000 dollars to create an unlock for the latest firmware but he refused it because he thinks Jody Sanders (who owns this site) is 'scum'

    See http://iphonejtag.blogspot.com/2009/11/information-campaign.html for details.

    Jody used to sell the Dev Team's software but insists that what he is selling is 'support' (which you can, of course, get for free from the Dev Team's Blog) but is now, I believe, selling Geohotz' software despite his copyright.

    Unlocking software is freely available for the iPhone and the only time you should pay for an unlock is if it's from your phone provider (O2 charge nearly £15 for PAYG phones but it's free for contract iPhones)

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Jobs Horns

    Claiming moral high ground?

    Wankers

  5. DarkElfa
    Jobs Horns

    I smell a fruit!

    Anyone else think Apple is involved here?

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    @DarkElfa

    In such a case, the email would probably not say that they could have hacked it for free, right?

  7. Keith T
    Grenade

    Do you suppose blackmail attempts were rebuffed?

    Do you suppose blackmail attempts were rebuffed?

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Try this then...

    If some punter wants to toss me a bit of their dosh for the self-training I did on learning HOW to properly jailbreak and unlock the iphone... Then how is that immoral? The punter decided that the time they would need to spend to learn how to do it for themselves was more valuable than the few quid, which is perfectly within their right to decide.

    We all make those type of decisions dozens of times each day. Do you find fault with the bloke who elects to hire a cab instead of walking the 10 blocks to his destination for free? Of course not.

    Now if the owner of the cab tried to say that the ONLY way to get to the destination was by using his paid service... That is where the wrong happens.

    People are perfectly free to ask me the name of the software I use, and I would happily tell them. None have. I advertise nothing more than a SERVICE, and the punters aren't paying for the software to use themselves... They are paying for my knowledge of which buttons to push and the preparation time I took that gets them on their way in 10 minutes or less.

    I'm reminded of the story of the TV repairman. When called out to repair a set, the gent walks in and turns one screw, then hands over a bill for 50 quid. Whats this then? asks the customer. 'I could have done that myself!' True, the man replies, however you are paying because I knew exactly which screw to turn, and by how much.

    Don't like the service? Learn how to do it for free. But unless the person is selling ONLY the free software (and those people would be scum, certainly) don't complain about someone else's ingenuity. Not every punter is wanting to become a phone hacker.

    1. Gulfie
      Grenade

      Defensive, toi?

      Me thinks you doth protest too much...

  9. Big-nosed Pengie

    Jezuz krise!

    You buy this shite, knowing that it's screwed down, then fuck around with it to undo the screws and wonder why you have problems.

    Seriously - Apple fanbois! Where's the <eyeroll> icon?

  10. ShaggyDoggy

    Re: I smell a fruit

    My first thoughts exactly

  11. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    Copyright Licence

    "The licence for that software prohibits commercial use, and the company admits it shouldn't have made use of it initially but that since then its attempts to work with the Dev Team have been rebuffed."

    So the company are making commercial use of a software product, knowing the creator's licence explicitly prohibits them... and that is the fault of the author because?

    I think, under the terms of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act in the UK that might even qualify as a criminal offence.

    So who's problem is that then? Ordinarily it would be the criminals violating the terms of the Copyright licence (rebuffed or not, you are bound by the creator's Copyright licence).

    Yet if you're a hacker who also expects anonymity, you face the fact that in doing so you also forfeit all rights to your published work and will be exploited mercilessly by commercial interests without any redress.

    Unless of course, you want to complain to the Police?

    Err,

    regards

    Anonymous Coward

  12. Tony Hoyle

    title

    Apple don't seem to mind that much.. it's probably responsible for about half their sales.. eg. I wouldn't have the two iphones I have without unlocking.. O2 suck too hard to be worth considering (and, btw they won't unlock a phone - even payg - unless you bought it over 18 months ago - so unlocking software is still a requirement for anything newer). Only in the US do they seem to think unlocking is unusual as they have only one provider.

    1. Andrew Johnson 1

      O2 *do* unlock

      O2 do unlock phones under 18 months old. I purchased mine in July 2009 and unlocked it last year as soon as O2 offered the service.. It is a contract phone. As far as I know, the only restriction is on PAYG phones - so you can't buy them subsidised unlock them and sell them on for more money.

      1. Gulfie
        Thumb Up

        Contract phone has to be 12 months through its contract to get unlocked

        ... see title ...

  13. Neil Stansbury

    Even O2 are offering unlocks now!!

    http://shop.o2.co.uk/update/unlockmyiphone.html

    1. Cthonus
      FAIL

      Oh Too

      Offering, yes. Managing to carry out the procedure - I'll let you know.

      Phoned O2 support on Sunday as I'd waited over 3 weeks already only for the HelpDesk Bod to say quite categorically 'unlocking takes 28 days' and denying their website quotes 14.

      Then he went on to say when challenged that the reason my iPhone hadn't been unlocked was because it was a foreign phone. Needless to mention I wasn't impressed. Especially since I'd been made to pick it up at the postal depot as they fecked up delivery to my work address as promised.

      "I'll get back to you in 24-72hrs"

      I can see why people might want to go elsewhere.

      1. Confuciousmobil
        Go

        Have you checked?

        O2 have no problem unlocking phones. They send a text to your O2 number so if you are not using that you won't get it.

        Have you actually checked to see if your phone is unlocked? Restore it and connect to iTunes, if it's unlocked you will get a message telling you so.

  14. The Vociferous Time Waster
    Dead Vulture

    nice advert for rackspace

    Like it was the fault of fasthosts that these muppets didn't secure their server. Why would el Reg be back slapping rackspace? Oh yeah, of course.

    El Reg is so pwned by its sponsors it's unreal.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    haha

    The iPhone comes locked for a reason, that reason being that Apple and Co want to spank you to death with expensive contracts. The solution is not to unlock it, the solution is to vote with your wallet and not buy an iPhone.

    So I don't have sympathy for the customers, or the shady bunch of profiteers charging money for a 2 minute job they do using free tools.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Re: nice advert for rackspace

    So - you are accusing us of bad faith... how silly.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Parasites

    This 'support site' is even reselling other peoples software as an 'App Pack', stuff like 3G unrestricter, BT Keyboard and the tethering hack!

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    Does anyone really doubt that Apple is behind this?

    It's certainly classic SV modus operandi.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    serves them all right

    aahahahahaha. pretty scummy behaviour from a company tbh 'yea we stole this software - but its ok now!' pff fucking scum - but no better tham any other out tjhere i bet. and dont expect any sympathy from me for the MUPPETS that paid money to this company! haha! (well they did buy an iphone.. what do you expect).

    i hope one day all iphones come with free sterilisation.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    @ iPhone users

    HAHA UR SECURITY IS ZERO %

  21. twunt

    Attention Dunces!

    There are a number of dunces on here who seem to think Apple is involved in this. You have really failed to understand the point haven't you?

    The email isn't to warn to people that unlocking and jailbreaking is illegal, but that they have been duped in to paying someone else to unlock it when they could have done it for free.

    The beef here is that someone stole to Dev Teams FREE unlocking tool, and is making a profit from it.

    Why would apple want to highlight that the could unlock their phone for free instead of paying some shyster to do it for them?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Attention twunt!

      The software is just a tool, you can buy a tool and make a profit from providing services whilst using it.

      In this case, the tool also happens to be free and widely available. It makes no difference. More fool them and from the iPhone owners I know, they only reason they want to unlock their iPhone is so they can say they have an unlocked iPhone because they think it indicates they have a level of technical ability higher than they do.

      Pretty much sums up iPhone users if you ask me.

  22. max allan

    I fail to see the problem

    If someone wants to sell something, why shouldn't they?

    As other people have said, if I go to the trouble of learning how to do something, that cost me my time. Why should I be denied opportunity to charge someone to recover some value from that.

    Even if they are simply putting the software on a CD and shipping it out, or even just sending you a link to the dev team website, they put the time in finding out where the dev team are and then went to the effort of selling the information. (including setting up their own website for it)

    However you slice it, anyone objecting to someone doing business is on dodgy ground unless you want to bring just about the whole world back to the dark ages.

    Anyone with insufficient tech skill to do their own google search for iphone unlocking and find the dev team probably need a simpler service than the yellowsn0w, redsn0w, ultrasn0w, pwnage and whatever else nightmare tangle of bits and bobs you need to unlock.

    1. Confuciousmobil
      FAIL

      Because...

      It is not theirs to sell.

      RedSn0w/Pwnage/UltraSn0w are copyright the Dev Team and BlackRa1in/BlackSn0w are copyright George Hotz

      All specifically prohibit resale.

  23. Andy Watt
    FAIL

    FAIL

    "Jailbreaking and unlocking are in no way illegal."

    No, they're not. But using the iPhone Dev Team's work and making money from it is, under the terms and conditions of their software licence. READ THE ARTICLE AGAIN AND THEN STAND IN THE CORNER! ;-)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: FAIL

      So, the iPhone Dev Team developed some software which allowed people to ignore Apple's licence terms. They were then surprised when people ignored their own licence terms. Seems they are somewhat naive.

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