How a ragtag group of young hackers made the iPhone what it is today.
This article includes both original reporting from Motherboard and reporting from The One Device: The Secret History of the iPhone.
The window shades are halfway down, leaving the bedroom dim. It's a grim day in Bassano del Grappa, a town in northeastern Italy that's mostly famous for its main import, the liquor of the same name: Grappa. I'm sitting on a twin bed—the only place I could sit. To my left, there's a bookshelf with a stack of Mickey Mouse comics, a staple in the childhood bedroom of every Italian kid. In front of me, sitting in a faux racing car chair, there's Luca Todesco, a 19-year-old who might be the best iPhone hacker on the planet.
I hand him my brand new, up-to-date iPhone 7.
"Can you jailbreak it?" I ask.
Jailbreaking is the art of hacking into Apple's ultra-secure iOS operating system and unlocking it—and thus allowing users to customize the phone, and write or install any software unimpeded by Apple's restrictions. At the time I met with Todesco, in December 2016, there was no known jailbreak—no public knowledge of this hack—for the latest iOS version that was installed on my iPhone (iOS 10.2).
The world's first jailbreaking step-by-step procedure, discovered in 2007, was posted online for all to see. Subsequent jailbreaks were used by millions of people. At one point, there was even a website—called jailbreakme.com—that was free for all to use and jailbroke your phone simply by visiting it.
Todesco's jailbreak, however, is only available within the confines of his bedroom inside his parents house.
Read more at the link: The Life, Death, and Legacy of iPhone Jailbreaking
I think it’s high time that there’s a federal law that prohibits building hardware so that it can only use one operating system. The practice is monopolistic to the core and and infringement of private property rights.
BIG FAT HAIRY DEAL!!!!!!!!!!
Apple has JUMPED THE SHARK!!!