Will the iPhone violate GPL 3?
33343
Blog: The Free Software Foundation raises the specter that the iPhone's software will violate its new GPL 3 license.
538599
Let the porting begin: Uploadr 3.0 is not only out of beta, it's also governed by the GPL now.
216036
The hooplah. The stories. The comment Apple's iPhone goes on sale in the US this evening. The queues have formed, and limits placed on how many of the handsets punters can take away with them. What is all the fuss about? Find out by reading Register Hardware's most popular iPhone stories...â¦
494004
Note: There was no permalink for the story on Apple's news website, here's the full text, with permalink. DW Let me just say it: We want native third party applications on the iPhone, and we plan to have an SDK in developers&#185; hands in February. We are excited about creating a vibrant third party developer community around the iPhone and enabling hundreds of new applications for our users. With our revolutionary multi-touch interface, powerful hardware and advanced software architecture, we believe we have created the best mobile platform ever for developers. It will take until February to release an SDK because we&#185;re trying to do two diametrically opposed things at once&#139;provide an advanced and open platform to developers while at the same time protect iPhone users from viruses, malware, privacy attacks, etc. This is no easy task. Some claim that viruses and malware are not a problem on mobile phones&#139;this is simply not true. There have been serious viruses on other mobile phones already, including some that silently spread from phone to phone over the cell network. As our phones become more powerful, these malicious programs will become more dangerous. And since the iPhone is the most advanced phone ever, it will be a highly visible target. Some companies are already taking action. Nokia, for example, is not allowing any applications to be loaded onto some of their newest phones unless they have a digital signature that can be traced back to a known developer. While this makes such a phone less than &#179;totally open,&#178; we believe it is a step in the right direction. We are working on an advanced system which will offer developers broad access to natively program the iPhone&#185;s amazing software platform while at the same time protecting users from malicious programs. We think a few months of patience now will be rewarded by many years of great third party applications running on safe and reliable iPhones. Steve P.S.: The SDK will also allow developers to create applications for iPod touch. [Oct 17, 2007]
168147
Forget about Tivoization. How about adding a clause to the next version of the GPL that counters Novellization? The clause would say (in proper legalese), that if any code infringes on intellectual property or patents held by third parties, and the third parties take legal action, the contributors of the offending code assume 100% liability.  In short, if Novell injects Microsoft IP into open source and Microsoft wants to sue, it must sue Novell and nobody else, because Novell assumes liability under this new license.  This would render any "promise not to sue the end customer" agreement with Novell meaningless.
750997
Apple has been very quiet on the topic of unlocking the iPhone, which allows it to work with other wireless carriers. However, the company, on Monday, issued a stern warning to users that their iPhone may be permanently inoperable if they use the various unlocking software available on the Internet.
48909
Apple Inc. on Monday warned iPhone owners who have used unauthorized programs to unlock the cellular service feature of their handsets that they may end up with a phone that doesn't work after the company's next software update for it.
753754
(InfoWorld) - Users are reporting that a new update to Apple's iPhone is making previously unlocked iPhones unusable. The iPhone 1.1.1 update , released Thursday, breaks phones that have been hacked so that they work with providers other than AT&T, the only U.S. provider Apple has allowed to carry its mobile phones. In recent months, a number of software tools have been developed whichÂ allow iPhone users to break free of Apple's AT&T-only restriction, but Apple has said that it would fight any attempts to unlock the iPhone. Earlier this week the company released a warning that unlocked iPhones "will likely result in the modified iPhone becoming permanently inoperable when a future Apple-supplied iPhone software update is installed." Shortly after the Thursday update was released, users of unlocked iPhones began reporting problems. Security researcher Tom Ferris said the new software disabled a phone that had been unlocked using the open-source anySIM software in order to work on T-Mobile's wireless network. After the update, the iPhone was stuck with an error message and apparently unusable. "It kept saying 'unsupported SIM card,' even with the AT&T SIM card in it," he said. "You can turn the phone off or on, but we just can't figure out how to get past this 'SIM card not supported'," he said. SIM cards contain account information and are used to authenticate devices on certain types of mobile networks. Unlocked iPhones can use SIM cards from non-AT&T networks. Others were reporting similar problems on Thursday. The update also appears to disable the 'Jailbreak' hack which allows users to install unsupported software on the iPhone, Ferris said. After the 1.1.1 patch was installed, it wiped out all of the third-party applications he had installed on a second iPhone, he said. The new software is Apple's biggest iPhone update to date, andÂ it fixes a number of security flaws in the iPhone's browser, mail client, and Bluetooth networking server. The majority of the flaws do not appear to be critical, but the update fixes a larger number of bugs than the first iPhone update, released July 31. Hackers have said that the iPhone's browser and mail clients are the most likely sources of software flaws and this release bears that out. Apple fixed seven flaws in the Safari browser, two in the iPhone's mail client, and one Bluetooth bug with the release. The Bluetooth flaw could be the most serious -- Apple said that it could allow an attacker to run unauthorized code on the iPhone -- but because Bluetooth works over a range of just a few feet, the attacker would have to be standing near the victim for any exploit to work, said Andrew Storms, director of security operations with nCircle Network Security. Noted hacker HD Moore agreed that the Bluetooth flaw was serious. "The only bad issue here is the Bluetooth [flaw]," he said. "I will start working on this tonight." Though there may be some technical limitations to what an attacker could do by exploiting this bug, it "could be a nasty remote exploit," he added. Earlier this week,Â Moore added iPhone hacking capabilities to the Metasploit hacking toolÂ that he develops. The patch also fixes some cross-site scripting and JavaScript flaws in the browser that could also be serious, Storms said. These flaws could be exploited to make the browser run unauthorized JavaScript code, he said. Mobile phone users typically cannot update their own software, but Apple introduced this capability in the iPhone, which uses the update mechanism in the phone's iTunes music player. iTunes checks for these updates once per week, so it may take up to seven days for all iPhone users to see these updates. Apple advises users to install the update immediately.
707240
Apple Inc  said on Monday  that programs available on the Internet that allow the iPhone  to be used with other service providers besides AT&T's Cingular  network can irreparably damage the device.
629732
Apple has released its first security updates of the new year, fixing bugs in its QuickTime media player and iPhone and iPod touch devices.As with previous updates, the iPhone 1.1.3 software patch sent those who had installed the unauthorized Jailbreak software -- used to run third-party applications on the iPhone -- scrambling to get their phones up and running. That&#39;s because Apple&#39;s updates have so far always rendered Jailbreak unusable, forcing users to go through a complex re-installation process.According to the Unofficial Apple Weblog, it is possible to run third-party software following this latest update, but the process is complex. A simpler Jailbreak 1.1.3 script is expected to be posted eventually at the iPhone Wiki, which is the hub of much iPhone hacking.The iPhone update fixes two flaws in the Safari browser, including a critical bug that could be exploited to run unauthorized software on the device. A third bug could let an unauthorized user bypass Passcode Lock and launch iPhone applications. The iPod touch is susceptible to the Safari bugs, Apple said.These updates will be rolled out to customers over the next week via the devices&#39; iTunes update mechanism.The QuickTime 7.4 update fixes four critical flaws in the software that could be exploited by attackers to crash the media player or even run unauthorized software on a victim&#39;s computer. The update is available for both the Windows and Mac OS X operating systems.However, the software does not fix a serious flaw in the player that was disclosed over the weekend.Security experts are particularly concerned over this flaw because attack code showing how it can be exploited has also been published. Apple is still working to fix the vulnerability, which has to do with QuickTime&#39;s use of the Real-Time Streaming Protocol.
671897
Have iPhone customers won the freedom to tinker with their cool new handsets? Maybe, if you have the skill to do it yourself. But we don't yet know if you're legally entitled to get help.
455600
Tycho:  If you would like to know if the iPhone is great, well, it is great.  Worth waiting in line?  There's no question.  Yes, once you realize that iTunes simply doesn't work correctly on 64-bit Vista, and once you agree to eject yourself from your negotiated Business Plan and pay twenty times more, you will be able to see a map that displays nearby sushi.
620459
Linus Torvalds is in a bit of a rage as to the politics of GPLv3, and writes accordingly. Check out this blog and other original content from CNET's Blog Network.
58546
More jailbreaks than a spaghetti western The latest version of the firmware for Apple's iPhone has fallen to hackers less than a week after its release.â¦
341837
If Linus and the other key kernel developers were to back a shift to GPLv3, and if there were reasonable legal air cover from respected Open Source authorities for doing so, it seems unlikely that we'd see a substantive challenge to such a move.
369496
Blog: For all its sound and fury, the third version of the General Public License has not had much impact on the industry yet. Very few projects have adopted it. Here's why.
132142
Apple's recent decision to forbid the use of Apple Store gift cards for iPhone sales may expose the company to class action lawsuits or state-led investigations. Is this anti-iPhone locking action one step too far for the company?