04.15
On last night’s show we had a number of people calling in about jailbreaking the iPhone.
In essence, jailbreaking your iPhone means freeing it from the limitations imposed on it by AT&T and Apple. You install a software application on your computer, and then transfer it to your iPhone, where it “breaks open” the iPhone’s file system to allow you to modify it.
Something we want to make abundantly clear is that taking action to jailbreak your iPhone can have dire consequences. Not only could it damage or destroy your iPhone if done incorrectly, it can also void your warranty. You should also know that there are abundant scams on the Internet that specifically target those who might want to explore the jailbreaking option.
One of our callers mentioned a web site that will provide you with the code to do this for a fee. We responded to the caller that you have no real assurance that the code provided isn’t malicious. To make our point for us, MacDailyNews published this article today called The Microsoft Tax: DNS Windows PC Trojan poses as iPhone unlock utility; Mac and iPhone unaffected
An application that offers to unlock iPhones is actually designed to hijack Internet connections on compromised Windows PCs, security watchers warn,” John Leyden reports for The Register.
While this malicious code only seems to affect Windows computers, who’s to say what the modification to the iPhone REALLY are in ANY of these applications? If you’re going to let someone you don’t know make modifications that could potentially destroy your device or compromise your personal data you are simply playing with fire.
At Technology Bytes we’re fully aware that users of technology like to tinker and we’re neither anti nor pro jailbreak. We just want our listeners to have all the facts.
