The Hacking Issue With iPhone Applications

Posted on 07 March 2010

After Apple created an iPhone release featuring a phone that allowed the downloading of individual task-oriented programs, it was like a floodgate had opened. Developers got very busy, creating iPhone apps that would enable users to read books, order flowers, keep track of their blood pressure, and anything else they wanted to do. Once Apple approved them, they were placed in the company’s online store, and people could download them. Sounds like a perfect arrangement, doesn’t it?

All is not roses with the iPhone apps, however. Many people have objected to the way Apple exerts such rigid control over what they are allowed to download. They frequently liken it to a company producing a computer but dictating which programs they are and aren’t allowed to use on it, which you just don’t see happening. Because of this, perhaps ten percent of iPhone users have performed iPhone hacks, devising workarounds against the guards that prevent them from downloading applications Apple hasn’t authorized.

Not surprisingly, Apple decided not to take this tampering with iPhone apps lying down. The company insists that it’s not going to authorize this hacking, or as it is also known, “jailbreaking,” while the Electronic Frontier Foundation among others have asked the nation’s Copyright Office to allow hacking in certain instances. Apple claims that opening up the iPhone this way would cost money, deter its own development efforts, and open it to a vast number of service calls from customers who become angry when iPhone downloads from unauthorized sources interfere with their phone’s performance.

The Copyright Office has conducted hearings on this matter of hacking and iPhone apps for over a year now, and is nearing a decision. Many requested exemptions appear quite legitimate, such as those connected with educational use of copyrighted material. Some also challenge what amounts to Apple’s giving itself a monopoly on people’s access to fully legal materials or to programs the users legitimately own. It will be interesting to see what the iPhone news is, and what the implications are, when the Copyright Office makes its decision later in 2010.

Kenny Leichester is a foremost expert in the interior design industry specializing in the outdoor or patio settings using outdoor heaters, patio umbrellas, outdoor cushions, patio lighting and so on to create exquisitely beautiful layout. His work on patio umbrellas are widely distributed and is a regular contributor to PatioShoppers.com.

Share and Enjoy: