
IBooks detects jailbroken iphones - ajaykam
http://socialapples.com/blog/2011/02/15/apple-cripples-ibooks-for-jailbreakers/
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tptacek
It's hard to muster too much outrage about this. You can't read your
"rightfully purchased iBooks" on any other device either; you can't read them
on a Kindle, nor, to the best of my knowledge, on an Apple Mac computer of any
sort. You can't to my mind reasonably expect to play them on jailbroken phones
either.

Why are you even buying iBook books? I can't understand the market proposition
to them. Kindle books work on Apple and Amazon hardware, and have a wider
selection. eBooks are already content-protected (this doesn't bother me, but
bothers most geeks); why would you opt into the _more_ protected of the two
major options?

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jmillikin
> _Kindle books work on Apple and Amazon hardware, and have a wider
> selection._

Kindle's DRM seems to be a sweet spot: effective enough to prevent casual
piracy, but generally not annoying, and easy to bypass for anyone who cares
about controlling their own media.

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yummyfajitas
Do you have more info on this? If true, the ability to export to ePub would
induce me to buy books in kindle format.

[edit: looks like there are some python scripts to do this.
<http://pastebin.com/f696ea728> This one claims to do the job. ]

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technomancy
> If true, the ability to export to ePub would induce me to buy books in
> kindle format.

Keep in mind that by doing so you would still be supporting a consumer-hostile
ecosystem.

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khafra
Compared to what? I think it'd be easier/cheaper for anyone of moderate
technical skill to learn how to remove DRM from a kindle book in order to
duplicate it than to scan or photocopy a physical book in order duplicate it.

~~~
technomancy
Many tech publishers sell unrestricted .mobi files if you buy directly from
them. Some sci-fi publishers do as well, though most of what I read on my
Kindle comes from feedbooks.com.

I didn't say don't do it; just to be aware that by buying books from Amazon,
you're sending a message that you're OK with DRM.

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farlington
I doubt that this was solely intended as a 'screw you' to jailbreakers. More
likely, it's because Apple can't guarantee the integrity of DRM on a
jailbroken system, and that's one of the terms in their contracts with
publishers.

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wh-uws
After years of this type of thing from Apple I just can't feel sorry for
anyone with a problem with this.

You know Apple, they are going to do this every time.

If you have a problem with that don't buy their products.

~~~
wh-uws
If you downvote please provide me with some feedback.

Apple has a very closed ecosystem and they like to exercise tight control over
it. That is a fact.

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CWuestefeld
_It appears that Apple is throwing caution to the wind and opening themselves
up for a slew of lawsuits over… iBooks. Really? Even if a corporation doesn’t
like us messing with their perfect OS, they can’t stop us from doing what’s
legal._

Sigh. Someone else who doesn't understand our rights _include_ the right to
enter into a contract that places burdens on both parties.

There's no legal or moral reason that Apple can't say "I'll sell you this for
$X plus your promise not to do $Y.". You don't have to like it -- in which
case you shouldn't make the agreement -- but it's certainly not _wrong_.

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ig1
Yes there are. There are plenty of rights which the law gives you which you
can't surrender, because they occur in asymmetric situations where one party
has more power than the other.

For example you can't sell yourself into slavery and you can't surrender your
right to reverse engineer a technology (in most developed countries).

Anti-competitive practices is another area where the law has intervened in
these sort of situations in the past. For example in the case of printer ink
refills (although the law has chosen not to intervene in the console market).

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CWuestefeld
We could have all kinds of debate here.

I assume that we can all agree on the slavery part, but I'm not so sure about
the reverse engineering one. Your personal feelings may differ, of course, but
I'm having trouble constructing an argument against the signing-away of
reverse engineering rights, from basic natural law principles.

Here's another fun example: clearly the right to free speech is fundamental,
at least to those in our society. So how is it that a court can uphold, e.g.,
an NDA?

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zacharypinter
I'm glad that all the technical books I purchase come DRM-free. Articles like
this remind me why DRM should be avoided.

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HyprMusic
Surely this is just going to encourage people to pirate these books? Seems
like another case of DRM punishing the good guys.

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stcredzero
Crippling functionality in response to jailbreaking is a bad move. Basically,
you're pissing off exactly the people who have the ability to embarrass you.
Just detecting jailbreaking is tremendously powerful in itself, and can be
leveraged to great advantage. Crippling functionality isn't one of these ways,
though.

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ax0n
No, this does not open Apple up to lawsuits. Any corporation has the option of
telling you what configurations are supported, and choosing to not support
configurations that are the result of extensive tweaking.

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linuxhansl
Don't buy DRM controlled books (or DRM controlled anything). By doing so you
are at the mercy of the content provider/deliverer.

That should be the lesson learned.

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Andrewski
The lil blogger says "The Library of Congress declared that it is completely
legal to jailbreak your devices."

Firstly, the Library of Congress hardle makes legal decisions, and
additionally, if they did, that does not imply that a company can not lock
them down.

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ajaykam
this ongoing battle is annoying. I just need my iphone to be a hotspot and I
need a better notification system. Then i'll be happy.

~~~
jokermatt999
>and I need a better notification system

Not to sound trollish, but have you looked at Android's notification system?
It's absolutely wonderful, and I really don't think I'd change a thing about
it. If you aren't too tied to iOS and are willing to switch, I'd say it's
worth a look.

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ajaykam
Yea, androids is much better than iOS. The notification system is by far the
worst thing about iOS, but I'm sure that the iOS solution will be good when
they do revamp it.

