jailbreak

Tools wipe location data from (some) iPhones

Want to wipe location-tracking data that's being stored on your iPhone without your permission? There's an app for that, but you've got to jailbreak your iPhone first.

Several tools have cropped up as a fix for people riled up about the fact that iPhones (and iPads) are surreptitiously logging unencrypted location-related data on the device, including cell tower coordinates, time stamps, cell operator and Wi-Fi networks used, and longitude and latitude from GPS signals--basically a when-and-where of your phone's location going back at least a year.

Police have known about and been using this information, and cellular operators have access to it and can provide it when served with a court order. But anyone with physical access to the phone (and access to a desktop backup of the data) is now able to see an iPhone owner's whereabouts over time.

The fact that consumers don't realize that their phones are recording and storing this information in clear text has come as a big surprise to many people, including consumer advocates who say it's a big privacy violation.

You can hide the data that may be on your desktop by encrypting your iTunes backups. And you can turn off GPS to stop the logging of at least that information, but that doesn't clean up any data stored on the device, and it will severely limit use of the device for location-based services like mapping. There is no way to disable the tracking, because it's baked into the operating system. … Read more

Unlock iPhones without jailbreaking

For many iPhone owners, a big reason to stage a jailbreak is to unlock the device, thus allowing it to work with carriers other than AT&T. (In the U.S., "carriers" means T-Mobile.)

Now, at least two services are promising to unlock any iPhone 3G, 3GS, or 4 without the need to jailbreak. What's more, they can do it remotely.

For a price.

Cut Your Sim and GSM Phone Source charge $169.99 and $179.99, respectively, for remote iPhone unlocking. In both cases you supply your phone's International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number, … Read more

Untethered jailbreak for iPhone, iPad running iOS 4.3 in beta

If you are a jailbreak fan, there's finally some good news coming from the untethered jailbreak camp, led by the hackers at the Dev Team--an untethered jailbreak is running iOS 4.3 in beta.

According to iPhone Download Blog, hacker Stefan Esser (@iOn1c) has come up with a solution, posting a tweet saying: "The iphone-dev-team is already beta-testing the untether. So it is up to them to give you your tool of choice."

Certainly if the Dev Team is running an untethered jailbreak solution for iOS 4.3, we can expect something soon. In the three weeks since the iOS 4.3 (and iPad 2) release, there hasn't been much exciting news coming from the jailbreak community. Until now, that is.

To back it up, renowned hacker MuscleNerd tweeted: "well @iOn1c's untether is solid! Just working out overall 4.3.x JB issues and Cydia :)"

There's still no official word on when the untethered jailbreak might be available, but signs are pointing to soon.

Will you jailbreak your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch? Let me know in the comments!… Read more

PS3 hacker's lawyers fire back at Sony

Things are getting even more interesting in one of the biggest jailbreaking cases currently in the courts. Stewart Kellar and his team of attorneys for George Hotz (aka GeoHot), on Friday filed a motion (PDF from Grocklaw) to dismiss Sony Computer Entertainment of America's suit against their client--for a few reasons:

First up, they object to SCEA's attempts to establish jurisdiction of the case in Northern California. Hotz lives and works in New Jersey, and, as an individual and not a corporation, really doesn't have the cash on hand to traverse the country defending himself in … Read more

Sony: PS3 hacker GeoHot fled to South America

Update, 7:01 p.m. PT: with Hotz saying he is on a long-planned vacation.

If you've been following the drama between Sony and hacker GeoHot (aka George Hotz) then you're in for a fun twist today: Sony is accusing Hotz of fleeing the country, but Hotz says he's just enjoying spring break.

Sony makes the allegation in a court filing (PDF, see page 2, line 24) dated Friday.

After news stories began appearing today, Hotz wrote a blog post to set the record straight.

"Actually, it's true I'm in South America, on a vacation I've had planned and paid for since November. I mean, it is spring break; hacking isn't my life," he writes. "Rest assured that not a dime of legal defense money would ever go toward something like this. And of course [Sony-employed law firm Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton] loves the idea of painting me as an international fugitive. I have been in contact with my lawyers almost every day; I would not let the case suffer."

Hotz is well known for reverse-engineering the multi-digit code that allows the installation and execution of non-Sony-recognized code on PlayStation 3s, essentially allowing anyone with a PS3 to run homebrew software, or even pirated games.

A federal magistrate a couple weeks ago OK'd Sony's request for Hotz to hand over his hacking gear--his PS3 consoles, computers, and other equipment--untouched. It seems that before turning the stuff in, he allegedly made edits, deleting key evidence that Sony likely planned to use against him.

What's more, Hotz was allegedly caught lying about having a PlayStation Network (PSN) account. But Sony says it was able to prove that in February of last year, Hotz allegedly purchased a new PS3 and, tracing the serial number, Sony says it concluded that he had set up a PSN account under the screen name "blickmanic," which is also a name Hotz used on previous Web forums on iPhone jailbreaking. … Read more

Report: Apple to release iOS 4.3.1 within 2 weeks

Apple is reportedly set to release an update to its iOS mobile operating system within the next two weeks to address minor bug fixes and jailbreaking vulnerabilities.

According to Boy Genius Report, Apple's iOS 4.3.1 update should fix some minor bugs and increase stability for iPhones, iPads, and iPod Touches running iOS 4.3. BGR lists several changes, including base-band updates for iPhone 3GS and iPad and an iPad 2 jailbreak vulnerability fix.

Also said to be included in the update:

Fixed memory hang that results in memory corruption when reading large files from USIM filesystem Fixed … Read more

Sony banning PlayStation 3 hackers for life

Sony came down hard on PlayStation 3 hackers today, saying they will be permanently banned from the company's online services.

"Violation of the system software license agreement for the PlayStation 3 System invalidates the consumer guarantee for that system," reads a notice posted to Sony's official PlayStation blog. "In addition, copying or playing pirated software is a violation of international copyright laws. Consumers using circumvention devices or running unauthorized or pirated software will have access to the PlayStation Network and access to Qriocity services through PlayStation 3 system terminated permanently."

To avoid the lifetime shutout, Sony said, consumers must "immediately cease use and remove all circumvention devices and delete all unauthorized or pirated software from their PlayStation 3 systems."

In the post, Social Media Manager Jeff Rubenstein said the policy represents an initial response to questions from PlayStation.Blog readers about how Sony plans to deal with breaches of its policy.

The company did not say when the ban will begin, but the blog PS3 News is reporting that many users of its PS3 forums have already confirmed receiving e-mail notices from Sony followed by their PlayStation 3 consoles being banned.

According to one account, "If you get error 0x8002A227, Sony banned your PS3 from the PSN."

This is just the latest step by Sony to thwart PlayStation 3 jailbreaks. … Read more

Apple reportedly breaks iBooks for jailbreakers

Apple iBooks users who jailbreak their iPhone may find themselves locked out of their own book collection.

Apple has allegedly built a jailbreak checker into iOS version 4 and above to see if someone's iPhone has been jailbroken with a hack known as greenpois0n, according to the Web site Social Apples. If the hack is found, then Apple reportedly blocks access to content in the latest version of the iBooks e-reader app.

The unlucky iBooks user who reported the experience on Social Apples ran into the following error when trying to access an e-book on a jailbroken device: "… Read more

Sony mistakenly retweets PS3 jailbreak code

Whoops.

Kevin Butler, Sony's fictional spokesman and vice president of several fake departments who appears frequently in PlayStation 3 commercials, retweeted the console's jailbreak code last night after apparently believing that it was a reference to the board game, "Battleship."

"Lemme guess, you sank my battleship?" read the tweet on @TheKevinButler. It was followed by the complete code, which had been tweeted to Sony's account by user @exiva. The user, whose name is Travis La Marr, according to his Twitter page, followed the code with a message to Sony: "come at me.&… Read more

Untethered iOS 4.2.1 jailbreak tool released

Although an iOS 4.2.1 jailbreak has been around for a couple months, it came with a catch: if you ever had to reboot your device, you'd have to connect (i.e. tether) it to your computer in order to start using it again.

That's a semi-major inconvenience; if your battery died while you were on the go, you wouldn't be able to use your iPhone, iPod, or iPad again (even if recharged) until you got back to your PC.

Needless to say, people have been itching to get their hands on an "untethered" … Read more