A New Jersey teenager has unlocked the iPhone, opening the way to Apple's iconic mobile telephone being used by non-US networks.
The Associated Press news agency confirmed George Hotz, 17, had unlocked the iPhone and used it on T-Mobile, a rival to its sole US operator, AT&T.
The hacker says the unlocking takes about two hours and involves some soldering and skill with software.
AT&T and Apple have not yet commented on the news.
Hackers and security researchers have been poring over Apple's much-coveted phone since its launch in the US in June in an effort to discover vulnerabilities in the handset.
Top of their list has been cracking the code that ties the phone to AT&T, the iPhone's exclusive network.
Before George Hotz's announcement on his blog, the iPhone was made to work on overseas networks using another method, which involves copying information from the Sim (Subscriber Identity Module) card.
However, special equipment was needed and the actual phone was not unlocked, with each Sim card having to be reprogrammed for use on a particular iPhone.
Analysts believe Apple may still have time to modify the iPhone production line to make new phones invulnerable to the hacks before the iPhone's expected European launch later this year.
Collaboration
The young hacker says he hopes phone-owners can eventually unlock their phones by themselves, and that he hopes his discovery will not be exploited for commercial gain.
"That's exactly, like, what I don't want... people making money off this," he told AP.
The next step, he said, would be a non-solder solution: a way to unlock the phone using software alone.
Technology blog Engadget said on Friday that it had successfully unlocked an iPhone using a different method that required no tinkering with the hardware. The software was supplied by an anonymous group of hackers that apparently plans to charge for it, AP reports.
The agency notes that both the Hotz and Sim techniques leave the iPhone's many functions intact apart from its "visual voicemail" feature, which shows voice messages as if they are incoming e-mail.
The New Jersey hacker says he collaborated online with four other people, two of them in Russia, to develop the unlocking process.
He spent about 500 hours on the project since the launch on 29 June.
"Some of my friends think I wasted my summer but I think it was worth it," he told US newspaper The Record of Bergen County.
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I was surprised to read that a seventeen year old teenager managed to get past the safety locks of a major technology company. He is a mere seventeen year old individual against an entire established company otherwise known by many as Apple. Yet, he managed to get past the codes that prevented the iPhone from using any other service provider but AT&T.
This work is no doubt the work of a genius. George Hotz may not be a “genius”, in the absolute sense of the word, but still it needed a fair amount of skill, ability and talent to get past the codes set by a major company. Credit goes to him. Teenagers like him are living prove of how much talent there is in our next generation today. In
Yet what strikes me the most is this teenager’s guts and courage to dare to unlock the codes of Apple’s iPhone and go public about it. For one, I am sure George Hotz knows fully that this act could bring lawsuits against him, especially since it is against a major company. This is because such an act – of having a seventeen year old unlock the codes of Apple – undermines the ability of Apple. It makes a mockery of and is damaging to its public image. These factors were surely taken into account when he decided to go public with his work. Yet, he still did so and this shows the guts that these teenagers have today. The last question then would be who were to pay for any financial costs incurred from the lawsuits that are sure to follow? Surely, it would be his parents. Had he not considered this before doing such a seemingly brave act or even deciding to go public about it? Is he rich enough to handle the financial costs?
The problem with teenagers are that they do not think before they act. They do not stop and consider whether what they are doing is a right or not. Many often follow their friends in the blind believe that it is “cool” to do such things. Without this maturity to control oneself, it becomes dangerous. All the talent we see in our youths today can be blown away in act of folly, an act that they did not stop to think about. In
While we see the talent that our youths hold today, the older generation must not celebrate too early. Guidance is still needed to ensure that youths understand the risk of acting without thinking. Only then, can we ensure that the talents in youths are properly made use of.
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1 comment:
Interesting discussion on a controversial issue in the 1st commentary. However, you should also note that you make some controversial comments (e.g. "As the government today has more power over the religious groups, they are willing to accept that their religious ethics come second to basic human ethics".) The 2nd too is quite thought-provoking, especially as the hacker comes across looking like a hero in the article. Your response seems half-admiring too, while you do recognise the dangers of his actions.
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