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Jailbreaking Is Not A Crime

jailbreakingisnotacrime.org

31–40 of 59 posts

Re: Jailbreaking Is Not A Crime

#31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I'm a Hacker Dojo member, and I can relate. I check into the Dojo on Facebook and I always have a few people who think I'm doing nefarious things like "hacking" people's Facebook account. I've been pretty good about educating people about what hacker's actually do, or at least this hacker so the questions have gone down to a minimum as it seems they're bored with the reality.

Re: Jailbreaking Is Not A Crime

#32

I prefer buying devices that don't come with the proverbial handcuffs.

Like Android devices? I'm not trying to be sarcastic or snide either. I just get a little tired of these arguments when it comes to smartphones and tablets. Every modern smartphone and tablet that I know of comes with some form of "proverbial handcuffs" to varying degrees. Whether it's jailbreaking or rooting, there's no difference.

Re: Jailbreaking Is Not A Crime

#33
post #10

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.

Your freedom to own your smart phone will disappear eventually when Hollywood figures out you didn't actually buy your phone, you are paying a monthly service which pays down your phone, an unspecified price. A percentage of which should go straight to Hollywood.

Where I live you can walk into a shop, buy a smart phone, then pop in a sim card and be off. Can you not do this in the US?

You don't pay any monthly service and I don't see how the carrier you have chosen to buy a sim card from has any basis for claiming that the phone I'm using is somehow not owned by me.

Since I purchased my first mobile phone around ~11 years ago this is how I have always done it.

Re: Jailbreaking Is Not A Crime

#34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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".

Of course. You have to accept in some fashion. You can't just put a contract on a billboard.

Re: Jailbreaking Is Not A Crime

#35

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…

Honestly, I think Apple has done a great job of bringing the idea of jailbreaking into the popular lexicon. If you have a good grasp of iOS, you know what jailbreaking is and why Apple shouldn't have the right to stop you.

And honestly, I don't think we could find a better name if we tried. Everyone likes a good jailbreak, especially when the inmate has done nothing wrong.

Re: Jailbreaking Is Not A Crime

#37

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…

[deleted]

Re: Jailbreaking Is Not A Crime

#38

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…

To some extent, geeks' choice of terminology is a deliberate statement of rebellion against the manipulation of language often seen in politics. In that context, the goal of using names and terms like "jailbreaking," "hacker," "pois0n," etc. is to deflate the knee-jerk emotional reaction people have to the trigger words used by the media.

Re: Jailbreaking Is Not A Crime

#39

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…

To some extent, geeks' choice of terminology is a deliberate statement of rebellion against the manipulation of language often seen in politics. In that context, the goal of using names and terms like "jailbreaking," "hacker," "pois0n," etc. is to deflate the knee-jerk emotional reaction people have to the trigger words used by the media.

Well, it doesn't work. These 'people' that they are trying to convince still have the same knee-jerk emotional reactions to the words, only now to our disadvantage.

As the parent says: for a bunch of smart guys, we keep doing stupid things. Stubbornly, with the excuse that it 'should work'. It doesn't. It's preaching to the quire.

Re: Jailbreaking Is Not A Crime

#40
post #18

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?
And it works in the exact reverse. They think: "I'm not in jail, why are you? Probably because you are a criminal."
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