August 26th, 2007
Hello Again AT&T: iPhone Software Unlock Delayed by Threats
By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Yesterday I told you about the software unlocking of the iPhone performed by two different companies. One of them, Uniquephones.com, was to go live with its solution Saturday on its www.iphoneunlocking.com site. However, John McLaughlin, founder of Uniquephones, said that he received a phone call about 3 AM Saturday local time (the firm is based in Belfast, Northern Ireland) from a man claiming to be from a law firm calling on behalf of AT&T.
But Uniquephones’s John McLaughlin says that he received a phone call at 3 a.m. Saturday from AT&T lawyers ordering that his company halt their plans. “They said if we did release this, that they would be within their rights to go after us,” he says. “These are bullying tactics.” Source: Newsweek
We Say: How solid is AT&T’s case? Not solid, IMHO - though I am not a lawyer. There is an exemption to the DMCA that explicitly exempts unlocking of cell phones. In this .PDF, right on the U.S. Copyright Office website, which references a new set of exemptions as of November 2006, it specifically says and exempts:
Computer programs in the form of firmware that enable wireless telephone handsets to connect to a wireless telephone communication network, when circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of lawfully connecting to a wireless telephone communication network.
In English: as long as the locks are bypassed so that you can legally connect to a cellular network (i.e., you aren’t doing it to get free service), it’s fine.
Sounds like AT&T does not have a leg to stand on. However, what it does have is powerful lawyers and a load of cash. It’s possible this lawsuit it meant to drain Uniquephones.com and the second unlocker, iPhoneSIMfree.com. And if that’s the case, it’s another example of corporate bullying and it’s basically hurting us, consumers.
jabe says:
Unleash the software on the net and courts and corporate bullies be damned!
August 26th, 2007 at 10:18 am
Palomar Jack says:
Yet one more reason to stay away from Apple and AT&T whenever possible.
August 26th, 2007 at 6:37 pm
Palomar Jack says:
By the way, if you want a cell phone that does twice what that overpriced POS iPhone does and costs almost half as much, buy a Nokia E70. No I don’t sell them and don’t even own a cellphone, just yet.
August 26th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
Surely you’ve heard this already: iPhone unlocked | Prepaid Reviews says:
[…] The big news over the weekend was that a college-bound student from Glen Rock, NJ, has managed to unlock the iPhone. Of course, that really only opens it up to T-Mobile, the other major GSM carrier in the US. But it’s still a sign of progress. Many in the industry speculated that it would take far longer for hackers to figure out the unlocking process. But it took George Hotz just two months to figure it out. It requires degrees of both software and hardware prowess to work — though there are reports of a software-only lock being delayed for legal reasons. The project took 500 hours total, and was split among Hotz, the ringleader, and a few other technicians. He is not starting a business from this, though, as he states on his blog. Rather, it’s about freeing the device for everyone, since the process of locking phones is one of the most undemocratic ideas we’ve heard. […]
August 27th, 2007 at 6:01 am
ZCZC says:
窃听器
August 8th, 2008 at 1:06 am