iPhone Firmware Update Makes Hacked iPhones Inoperable - The Legal and Ethical Issues with Bricking a Phone
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The process of making the phone inoperable is known as "bricking." It has raised some moral issues among end users, who question Apple's right to do this. Legally, the company has the right to update the phones as they see fit, and generally not support any alterations to the hardware or third party applications.
The moral issue, however, is a little bit more ambiguous. I had a chance to catch up with Dr. Charles Miller, an independent security analyst, and the man who hacked both the iPhone and the MacBook Air, to get his perspective on opening up the iPhone. He had this to say about Apple bricking modified iPhones, "I think it is difficult to have issues with Apple trying to protect their investment by having updates which make adding custom software harder, even if it is designed specifically to defeat the way the 'cracking' software works. However, I think it would be very poor if they designed it intentionally to make the phone unusable by any way if it was previously cracked (i.e. even complete software restore would not work to get the phone back to factory settings). If this was an unintended consequence of the update, I couldn't blame Apple because they can't know what everyone has done with their cracked iPhone."
The hack that is getting users of the open iPhone in trouble is specifically the one designed to make the phone available on other service carriers. The hack, which we won't cover in detail in this post, involved downloading a third party software component, removing the old sim card, using a soldiering iron to alter the hardware of the phone and replacing it with a card from the service provider of your choice. The initial hack was put up by a 17-year-old from Glen Rock, New Jersey, shortly after the phone was released.
Next: What Can I Do If I Have a Hacked Phone? >>
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