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Jailbreaking Is Not A Crime

jailbreakingisnotacrime.org

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Re: Jailbreaking Is Not A Crime

#21

Post by burgerbrain »

jerf wrote: post #18
jdietrich wrote: post #16

This is why geeks should be required to run things past an English major before talking to normal human beings. If we call a thing "jailbreaking", we're going to be battling negative perceptions forever. We're trying to explain to people who really don't care that they should take time out of their day to help legalize something called "jailbreaking". The RIAA, MPAA and ESA would struggle to dream up a more dubious n…

I'm not sure it's as bad as you think. The cell phone industry and the carriers are the ones who built the jail, and the inmate is you . It is probably worth making sure that nuance is communicated, but it's a powerful image. If you're not a criminal, why are you in jail?

The problem is that, to the uninformed, that information is not obvious from the term.

Re: Jailbreaking Is Not A Crime

#22

Post by stretchwithme »

burgerbrain wrote: post #21
jerf wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure it's as bad as you think. The cell phone industry and the carriers are the ones who built the jail, and the inmate is you . It is probably worth making sure that nuance is communicated, but it's a powerful image. If you're not a criminal, why are you in jail?

The problem is that, to the uninformed, that information is not obvious from the term.

A friend of mine started working at the Hacker Dojo in Mountain View. He was working on a web app with his brother, who was actually in another country.

Shortly thereafter, he gets a very worried call from his brother, saying "We've been hacked!" He saw a lot of traffic in the logs from an IP connected with the word "Hacker" and got a bit panicked.

Re: Jailbreaking Is Not A Crime

#23

Post by untog »

jerf wrote: post #18
jdietrich wrote: post #16

This is why geeks should be required to run things past an English major before talking to normal human beings. If we call a thing "jailbreaking", we're going to be battling negative perceptions forever. We're trying to explain to people who really don't care that they should take time out of their day to help legalize something called "jailbreaking". The RIAA, MPAA and ESA would struggle to dream up a more dubious n…

I'm not sure it's as bad as you think. The cell phone industry and the carriers are the ones who built the jail, and the inmate is you . It is probably worth making sure that nuance is communicated, but it's a powerful image. If you're not a criminal, why are you in jail?

If you're not a criminal, why are you in jail?

But why would you think like that? If, outside of any smartphone connection, someone said they'd "jailbroken" I would think "they were in jail", not "I wonder if they deserved to be there".

If you call yourself a jailbreaker you a describing yourself as an escaped criminal to many people.

Re: Jailbreaking Is Not A Crime

#24

Post by stretchwithme »

postfuturist wrote: post #6

This is a basic freedom issue. The freedom to run software I control on devices I own allows me to be free in how I share and protect my own private information. Apple and Microsoft are trending toward making it more difficult and less legal to run alternative operating systems or unapproved 3rd party software on their platforms. It has to be fought tooth and nail. Fight it legally, and fight it with your pocketbook.

You also have the freedom to curtail your freedom when you sign a contract.

Re: Jailbreaking Is Not A Crime

#25

Post by wavephorm »

orangecat wrote: post #20
wavephorm wrote: post #12

Jailbreaking does unlock a lot of functionality that should be in a PC. Being able to SSH into the system and use unix tools opens a lot of possibilities. Just being able to rsync music over wifi to my iPod and scrapping iTunes is worth it. Apple's underlying Darwin system works great on a mobile device. I don't own an Android, but afaik it's underlying Linux system is not as robust as Darwin. So where else do you go…

I don't own an Android, but afaik it's underlying Linux system is not as robust as Darwin. What are you basing that on? You can easily install Unix tools on Android devices. Here's a complete development environment that doesn't even require rooting: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.spartacusrex.spart...

I've had an impression that because of Android's abstractions you didn't have the same "bare metal" access, such that scripting languages have to be run inside a container app: http://code.google.com/p/android-scripting/

Re: Jailbreaking Is Not A Crime

#26

Post by orangecat »

stretchwithme wrote: post #24
postfuturist wrote: post #6

This is a basic freedom issue. The freedom to run software I control on devices I own allows me to be free in how I share and protect my own private information. Apple and Microsoft are trending toward making it more difficult and less legal to run alternative operating systems or unapproved 3rd party software on their platforms. It has to be fought tooth and nail. Fight it legally, and fight it with your pocketbook.

You also have the freedom to curtail your freedom when you sign a contract.

Sure. An actual contract, not "by reading these words you agree to do whatever I say".

Re: Jailbreaking Is Not A Crime

#27

Post by guelo »

jdietrich wrote: post #16

This is why geeks should be required to run things past an English major before talking to normal human beings. If we call a thing "jailbreaking", we're going to be battling negative perceptions forever. We're trying to explain to people who really don't care that they should take time out of their day to help legalize something called "jailbreaking". The RIAA, MPAA and ESA would struggle to dream up a more dubious n…

The hackers that came up with the name way back when weren't corporate PR hacks, that's why.

Re: Jailbreaking Is Not A Crime

#28

Post by guelo »

wavephorm wrote: post #25
orangecat wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't own an Android, but afaik it's underlying Linux system is not as robust as Darwin. What are you basing that on? You can easily install Unix tools on Android devices. Here's a complete development environment that doesn't even require rooting: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.spartacusrex.spart...

I've had an impression that because of Android's abstractions you didn't have the same "bare metal" access, such that scripting languages have to be run inside a container app: http://code.google.com/p/android-scripting/

Your impression is wrong, you can get access to the full Linux shell.

Re: Jailbreaking Is Not A Crime

#30

Post by marcomonteiro »

untog wrote: post #17
jdietrich wrote: post #16

This is why geeks should be required to run things past an English major before talking to normal human beings. If we call a thing "jailbreaking", we're going to be battling negative perceptions forever. We're trying to explain to people who really don't care that they should take time out of their day to help legalize something called "jailbreaking". The RIAA, MPAA and ESA would struggle to dream up a more dubious n…

Yep. Same thing with "hacking" and "hackathons". Whenever I tell non-techies I'm going to a hackathon they think I'm going to break into someone's network, or something.

We can blame Hollywood and the media for perverting the word hacker, but jailbreaking and the negative connotations it can provoke is our own fault.
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