Circuit Writer Version 6.7 by Jim Scheef This month we take a short break from “the cloud”, although these items may seem so obscure that they appear cloudy nonetheless. Apple and the DMCA Apple has claimed that “jailbreaking” an iPhone infringes on their copyright of the iPhone software and thus violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Jailbreaking is the term used to describe the process of unlocking (OK, call it hacking) an iPhone so that applications can be installed from sources other than the iPhone Store and it can be used on a cell phone service other than AT&T. According to a story on CNET (tinyurl.com/bct969), the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF.org) has asked that the U.S. Copyright office grant an exemption to iPhone owners who have unlocked their iPhones. EFF argues that jailbreaking an iPhone is a “fair-use”, and the Copyright Office should grant an exemption because "the culture of tinkering (or hacking, if you prefer) is an important part of our innovation economy." Apple counters that few users actually jailbreak it themselves. They do so by downloading software tools created by other parties to make the modification. Now, I do not own an iPhone and I would like to get comments about this from those who do. It’s interesting because of the open software aspect. The article implies that many users jailbreak their iPhone solely to free it from the Apple App Store (or I read this into it). This opens the device to applications that have not gone thru Apple’s vetting and may not exactly play by Apple’s rules. In other words, they explore new ways of doing things and… innovate. Isn’t innovation a key part of “Truth, Justice and The American Way”? A great example is OpenClip (openclip.org) that works around the iPhone SDK (software development kit) agreement to implement copy and paste between iPhone apps – something that I would have assumed was baked in from the beginning. Access to the UNIX that underlies the iPhone user interface is another good reason to jailbreak your iPhone or iPod Touch. All you command line gurus out there, wouldn’t a term window be cool on an iPhone? The alternative iPhones app source I found first is appleiphoneapps.com. There is no Apple logo and at the bottom of each page the copyright notice includes: “Not affiliated with Apple Inc.” From the release of the original iPhone, Apple has battled to prevent hackers from unlocking any aspect of the iPhone. Since the iPhone license agreement allows Apple to update the iPhone software without the user’s express permission (you gave it when activating the phone), Apple has updated the OS (operating system) to block each new jailbreaking tool. With the opening of the App Store where users could legally install applications, Apple eased off this cat and mouse game. Now I read in Tom Yager’s InfoWorld column (tinyurl.com/5kvx86) from August 8, 2008 (OK, I’m not up to the minute on iPhone issues) that the 2.0.1 firmware update for iPhone, iPhone 3G, and iPod touch disables any alternative to Apple's App Store. Read the entire article for a good incite to the issue and a link to InfoWorld’s special report on iPhone issues. Remember the EFF from the start of this section? Many times (dacs.org/archive/0402/presidents_message.htm) I have urged you to visit EFF.org or even become an EFF member to support them in protecting your digital rights. No matter your position on the iPhone, there are many other issues that matter, so now is the time to support the EFF. Dr. Dobbs no longer a print publication Dr. Dobbs Journal, perhaps the longest running computer magazine on the planet ceased publication this past month as a separate printed publication. The web- and email-based editions will continue. What first began as a Xeroxed newsletter entitled Dr. Dobb's Journal of Tiny BASIC Calisthenics & Orthodontia (subtitled Running Light without Overbyte) has morphed several times over the years to become the highly respected DDJ (ddj.com) now published in the U.S. by CMP Technology which also publishes InformationWeek (informationweek.com). Bob Albrect of People’s Computer Company fame, started DDJ in 1976 following a flood of requests for a publication about microcomputer software. Early content was from volunteer contributors including Steve Wozniak, Gary Killdall and Jeff Jaskin. Read about this on Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Dobbs_Journal) and, of course, on the DDJ Portal (ddj.com). When Robots Attack There is a new book called Wired For War: The Robotics Revolution And Conflict In The 21st Century by P. W. Singer. It is not about robots like in the movie “I, Robot” but about the use of robotics on the battlefield of today. I found this in a Mitch Wagner column in InformationWeek, February 16, 2009 (http://tinyurl.com/co237s) and it is a topic ripe for discussion. For instance, there are now 7000 drone air systems in use by our military – from mere dozens just a few years ago. Initially ground-based robots were used for surveillance and rescue; but they are rapidly becoming deadly and the same goes for the much larger aircraft drones. Now I’m all for not getting our soldiers or pilots killed, but the video recorded by these drones (when do we start calling them droids?) is appearing on YouTube as entertainment set to music and that cannot be good. The current systems are the Model T’s of battlefield robots; there is little or no autonomy. Naturally that will change, but how long before “strong” artificial intelligence (AI) becomes a reality and robots really do become droids? The debate about stem cell research is loud and clear. However there are other issues that need to see the light of day and before an army of autonomous droids is created to fight an army of clones. Are we headed toward Commander Data or his brother Lore? Isaac Asimov, where are you when we need you? Another for the “I Told You So” department You have got to read this article on Dark Reading. Our personal privacy and security should not be treated as a tradeoff, because giving up one will likely reduce the other rather than what is intended. Case in point is the RFID chip in the new U.S. passports issued by the Department of Homeland Security. A researcher has demonstrated a drive-by attack that can clone “a half-dozen passports within an hour”. Chris Paget is scheduled to demonstrate the technique at the February Shmoocon hacker conference in Washington, D.C. Paget developed the technique using “affordable” equipment and can read passports from twenty feet in a moving car. Read the article (http://tinyurl.com/djocbl).
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