Now that the iOS 5.1.1 jailbreak is available for the iPhone 4S, new iPad, and older devices, the subject of jailbreak in general is getting a lot of attention again, and with it, the dark side of jailbreaking. It seems whenever someone wants to attack the very concept of jailbreak, one of the first salvos unleashed is app piracy. The sad, ugly truth is that those attacks are made possible because some people who jailbreak do so mainly or entirely to get "free" apps. And the sadder, uglier truth is that there's no such thing as "free". Everything has a cost. Even and especially theft.

We're going to use the words "theft" and "steal" here instead of piracy because that's what we're talking about. Steve Jobs once raised a pirate flag at Apple as a symbol of their counterculture and ideals, and the jailbreak community has embraced that spirit.

By no means has the jailbreak community embraced theft.

Both iMore and Mobile Nations have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to even the discussion of piracy. We place an incredibly high value on developers and the apps they make, and don't want to play any part, directly or indirectly, in disseminating information that hurts developers, the iOS platform, and the legitimate jailbreak community.

Likewise, prominent jailbreak developers have gone out of their way, numerous times, to distance themselves from app theft and ask those using their software not to steal apps.

There's a reason for that. App theft is not a victimless crime. It hurts the iOS platform, it hurts iOS developers, and because of that, it ultimately hurts iOS users.

Stealing apps isn't free. It comes with a very real cost.

Getting the excuses out of the way

For years people have been copying CDs, DVDs, Blu-Ray movies, games, and anything else they could get their hands on. Ever since media became copyable, people have been copying it. Some have applied philosophical wrappers around it -- that all bits should be free. Others think that since the original version remains, copies don't equate to theft -- you're not taking it away from anyone else. Others justify their actions based on the hostility often displayed towards users by traditional media companies.

The law does allow for copying in some situations, in some jurisdictions. It sometimes allows for copying to make a backup or change format, for example ripping a CD to iTunes or copying iTunes music to a disk. But none of them make allowances for theft.

Another common excuse is availability and price -- if content could only be bought immediately, and at a fair cost, there'd be no content theft. Game of Thrones is the most common current example. HBO won't release it for sale for months, so users go elsewhere to get it. If HBO would only put it on iTunes, Amazon, etc. in a timely manner, the argument goes, no one would be going elsewhere.

Well guess what -- in almost all cases, the App Store and apps do just that.

And not only that, apps are incredibly inexpensive by any reasonable standard. Paid apps are often $0.99 and most iPhone apps top out at $4.99 with very few exceptions. In most cases they're not only less than a cup of coffee or a movie, but substantially less.

Also, Apple allows users to re-download purchased apps. If you deleted an app by accident, it stopped working right, or you got a new iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch you have the ability to re-download your content without having to re-purchase anything. Your purchases are tied to your iTunes ID, not a specific device. Apple even allows you to authorize content on up to 5 computers and, when it comes to apps, practically as many iOS devices as you'd like.

Easily available, cheaply and fairly priced, and automatically backed up. That removes many of the rationalizations and justifications.

Note: There are some regions that don't support the App Store, or specific parts of the App Store, due to local policies on rating requirements or other licensing issues. In those particular cases, in those particular places, stealing apps may seem like the only way for these users to obtain App Store apps or games. This problem typically arises in countries that don't carry the iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, in areas where iTunes payments are difficult or challenging, or where Apple is simply not allowed to provide a legitimate service. Still there are legitimate workarounds, like using a U.S. App Store account and loading it with gift cards. If you want to support developers, you'll find a way.

The cost to app developers

When you jailbreak to steal apps you're essentially taking money out of someone's hand, whether it's an independent developer or a development company. App development takes a lot of time and a lot of money.

Apps can and do cost tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars to develop. That means every sale is important and can make all the difference to a developer -- the difference between continuing an app or canceling it, making payroll or not making it, feeding their family or not feeding them.

If recent statistics are accurate, almost 60% of developers don't break even on costs when developing and executing an app. These costs typically involve marketing, development, graphic design fees, software licensing, and anything else that goes into submitting a fully polished app to the App Store.

These costs don't stop once the app is submitted to the App Store. If the app uses push notifications or has a web server back end, that costs money. Sometimes a lot of money. If a developer wants to provide technical support to their users, a service we've all come to expect, that's also a lot of money. There are considerable recurring costs for any development team that plans on supporting their app and updating it regularly.

Making, maintaining, supporting, and updating an app is incredibly expensive. And there's no promise every developer will ever get all that money back.

That's the cost to developers, and to users who may get less apps developed or updated because of it.

The cost to Apple

Apple owns the iOS platform. Anything that hurts developers hurts Apple. To that end, Apple has tried to implement services such as in-app purchases and iAds so developers can keep prices down and still earn a living. Yet there's more Apple can and should do.

There have been several developers who have reported seeing more players active on Game Center than have actually purchased their game via the App Store. Sometimes by a factor of 10 or more. There needs to be a way to shut stolen apps out of Game Center so there's less incentive to use the stolen versions of games. iTunes knows which apps we've bought. If a game isn't on our purchased list, it shouldn't work in Game Center. That removes the ego gratification of leader boards and the fun of multiplayer unless and until a legitimate copy of an app is purchased.

The same could be done with iCloud for non-game apps. If an app isn't on our purchased list, it doesn't sync, it doesn't back up.

I'm not pretending to know how complicated such a system would be to deploy, or how much it would disincentivize app theft, but it doesn't seem beyond the realm of possibility.

The more popular an app or game is, the higher the likelihood it will be stolen, and the less money a developer will make from it. If developers find they can't make enough money, they'll stop developing those popular apps. That not only hurts users who want great software, but it hurts the platform.

That's the cost to Apple.

The cost to jailbreak's reputation

I've been jailbreaking since iOS 1.x and I've never once stolen an app. For myself and many others out there, jailbreak is a tool to add functionality to our iPhones, iPads, Apple TVs, and iPods -- functionality that Apple won't or hasn't give us stock. I actually think I've spent almost as much money on jailbreak apps as I have stock apps. Yet even though many jailbreakers don't steal apps, the conception that jailbreak is a gateway to app theft is impossible to escape.

I've had people come to me for help with their iPhone, people that don't even know how to use iCloud, but who know all the ins and outs of app theft. They can't be bothered to back up their own data but they'll spend hours and hours figuring out how to screw a developer out of $0.99 or $4.99.

And they cost jailbreak its reputation. They enable jailbreak to be called a tool for app theft instead of a breeding ground for innovation. They enable those who would like to see jailbreak made illegal to couch their self-interest in the flag of criminal justice.

That's the cost paid by the jailbreak community, and by those who jailbreak for legitimate reasons.

The cost to users

I'm not here to give anyone a lecture on morals or ethics. If you're stealing apps, one article probably won't change your mind. Maybe you already know that you're costing developers money, that you're tarnishing the reputation of the jailbreak community, and maybe even that you're hurting the iOS platform. Perhaps you've justified it to yourself by saying developers are rich and you're copying not stealing, or you don't care about the jailbreak community, or that Apple has so much money nothing could ever hurt iOS.

But what about us?

We're all connected.

If you're stealing apps it's because you want apps. Keep stealing them, and the quality and quantity of apps will eventually diminish. If you're jailbreaking, you need the jailbreak community to keep releasing tools for jailbreak. Keep using jailbreak to steal apps and either laws using you as an excuse, or jailbreak developers fed up with how you're misusing their tools will stop providing them. And all of this is dependent on Apple not figuring out a way to shut it all down or make it so time consuming that it might as well be shut down.

I'd like to envision a strong future for jailbreak and for stock iOS. Stealing apps is simply the right way to get all the wrong attention, and to hurt everything you enjoy.

On the other hand, buying the apps you like rewards developers for their hard work and helps ensure they can continue to update those apps, and make more of them, now and into the future. It shows the world that jailbreak is about adding functionality and not stealing money. And it shows Apple that their time and attention is better spent being inspired by jailbreak rather than shutting it down.

If that's not enough, consider the threat: On desktop computers, it's not unheard of for bad guys to modify stolen apps before distributing them, infecting them with malware to infect systems and steal information. That's not meant a as scare tactic, but a warning. "Free" could eventually come at the price of your device's security, and your own personal protection.

Losing apps, losing jailbreak tools, losing control, and ultimately losing jailbreak is the cost to users.

Conclusion

For years we've been clamoring for great content, readily available and priced fairly. With the App Store, we have it. The best defense against accusations that jailbreak is all about app theft is simply not to steal apps. The best way to get more great apps is simply to buy the great apps we have today.

There's no such thing as free. Even theft has its price. And we can all choose not to pay it.

In a recent interview, Rovio CEO Mikael Hed said that app piracy isn't a huge threat to their signature title, Angry Birds. In fact, it may help increase their popularity. Hed draws a lot of parallels to the music industry, and sees suing your fanbase as fundamentally "futile".

"We took something from the music industry, which was to stop treating the customers as users, and start treating them as fans. We do that today: we talk about how many fans we have. If we lose that fanbase, our business is done, but if we can grow that fanbase, our business will grow. ... Piracy may not be a bad thing: it can get us more business at the end of the day."

This is pretty smart on Rovio's part, since they don't just have a little slingshot game now -- they have a brand. That brand is proving to be way more valuable for cartoons, merchandise, and cross-licensing (like the case with Rio) than as an iPhone app. It's on these fronts that Rovio is staying agressive.

"We have some issues with piracy, not only in apps, but also especially in the consumer products. There is tons and tons of merchandise out there, especially in Asia, which is not officially licensed products."

While Angry Birds might be the exception rather than the rule when it comes to app store success stories, Hed's mindset here should show that publishers should always be thinking beyond the app. There's a big world outside of mobile apps, and the more of it developers can latch hooks into, the more relevant their software becomes.

Of course, smaller developers might think that's easy for Hed and his massive pork-and-poultry-fed bank account to say. With thinner margins for their apps, and nowhere near the same popularity with which they could viably sell shirts, plushies, or other branded goods, no doubt they're hit much harder by app piracy than Rovio.

Source: The Guardian

iPhone Dev-Team member MuscleNerd has gone on the record stating a port of Siri to other iOS devices outside of the new iPhone 4S will require piracy, and likely won't ever see the light of day as a consequence.

Anyone hoping for a "port" of Siri from iPhone4S: pending a very low-level A5 exploit, it likely can't be done without piracy

(only way to extract Siri files from iPhone4S filesystem without pirating is to have the main FS keys, requiring low-level exploit)

Essentially, the only way to get Siri working on other iOS devices would be to take the required files from an iPhone 4S and transfer them onto the other device manually. It's also possible that Apple may flag such devices since Siri talks to Apple's servers to complete certain tasks.

On the other hand, piracy in the jailbreak community has been running rampant lately, so it's also possible we could see this come from other, less ethical jailbreak developers.

Source: MuscleNerd

Piracy exists in many different media platforms - movies, music, books, video games and yes, even iPhone applications. Exactly how big is iPhone application piracy to date? According to 24/7 Wall Street, the App Store has lost over $450 million since it's inception.

It is estimated that for every application sold in the App Store, 3 more are then pirated. Who's to blame for this? Of course, all of the blame is being put upon the iPhone jailbreakers. While none of us here at TiPb are against the jailbreak process as it's intended purpose was not related to piracy, we all knew it was simply a matter of time before someone found a way to exploit it for the sole purpose of stealing iPhone applications. This hurts the developers the most as some have reported piracy rates has high as 95%.

To this very day, Apple simply toys with the process or they turn their head the other way. It should be interesting to see if, in the future, Apple helps developers battle jailbreaking similar to how Microsoft helped game developers when they started banning Xbox 360 owners from their Xbox Live service (Online Gaming Community) for playing pirated games while online. The developers cried out to Microsoft for help and they came through the only way that is currently possible. Again, we are not against jailbreaking but something does need to be put in place to help developers fight piracy.

In-app purchases could be part of the solution for some developers, but the model won't work for everyone. What else can they do? What else should Apple do?

[Via Barrons.com via 24/7 Wall Street]

Did Apple close the 24kpwn exploit in the latest shipments of the iPhone 3GS due to app piracy? MobileCrunch thinks it's certainly a factor:

While jailbreaking allows for countless wonderful (but otherwise disallowed) apps to run on the iPhone, it also allows cracked versions of paid applications to be installed. As a result, piracy is mind-blowingly, soul-crushingly rampant on the iPhone. Many iPhone developers – such as those behind the popular IM client, Beejive – are reporting that 80 percent of their users are pirates. Yep. For every 10 users on Beejive, 8 of them didn’t pay for it. I’m no saint myself, and all of us here fully understand that a download does not equal a lost sale – but when 80% of the people using your app (and in Beejive’s case, your servers) aren’t paying to keep the lights on, it’s likely seen as a big issue.

As Jeremy posted yesterday, Apple has begun shipping iPhone 3GS with new boot ROMs patched against the longstanding 24kpwn exploit commonly used to Jailbreak the devices. We also saw some reports on the state of app piracy from Pinch Media.

What do you think? Would Apple turn a blinder eye towards Jailbreaking if app piracy wasn't a factor? Or is Apple duty bound to patch known security exploits no matter what?

Back in February we brought to you the story about Apple saying that Jailbreaking your iPhone is illegal. Granted that was in response the (Electronic Frontier Foundation), and their filing an exemption request for Jailbreaking iPhones. (See the AIPLA Quarterly Journal's article on this from last week). Well this past Friday Apple's head of marketing, Greg Joswiak, faced off against Fred von Lohmann, the EFF’s copyright guru and a plethora of Copyright Office officials. The topic? Jailbreaking...

The following is a little taste of what Apple had to say:

Apple is opposed to the proposed Class #1 exemption because it will destroy the technological protection of Apple’s key copyrighted computer programs in the iPhone™ device itself and of copyrighted content owned by Apple that plays on the iPhone, resulting in copyright infringement, potential damage to the device and other potential harmful physical effects, adverse effects on the functioning of the device, and breach of contract. The proponents of the exemption have also not satisfied their burden of proof of showing harm to non-infringing uses of the copyrighted works protected by the technological protection measures on the iPhone. In addition, because Congress has already explicitly addressed circumvention for interoperability in Section 1201(f) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA),4 the Copyright Office should not create interoperability exemptions outside that statutory structure, at least without a clear showing of specific and significant harm, which has not been put forth here.

The way we see this is that Apple is against Jailbreaking for the simple fact that it can and will cost them money. Common sense will tell you that Apple does not get any money from iPhone users if they do not use the App Store for installing applications and they also run the risk of legit App Store apps being pirated, which we have already seen. So TiPb can see where Apple is coming from but at the end of the day, if you purchase an iPhone or any other device for that matter, it is yours to do with what ever you'd like.

For a complete rundown of all the shenanagins that took place this past Friday be sure to check out Wired.com's Jailbreaking Showdown.

[Via Wired.com]

First we had Crackulous, and now as is the case with any sort of media today, piracy is running rampant. It is something that is bound to happen no matter how many ways are created to prevent it. DVD's, CD's, Satellite TV, Video Games, and now iPhone applications. According to Wired.com nearly 20% of all the App Store apps have been pirated and are now available. One torrent file of 5.4 gigabytes worth of apps, 808 cracked apps to be exact, was recently floating around on the web. It's all out there to grab... but it doesn't make it right and no we won't tell you where.

Wired.com interviewed a creator of one of these pirated app web sites:

"We want people to think of these as trial apps since Apple doesn't allow trials of apps before purchase," said "Omar," one of the creators of the site, who refused to disclose his real name to Wired.com. "It's Apple's fault for not putting up a trials system."

Has "Omar" ever really been on the App Store lately? There are lite versions all over the App Store and that rests in the developers hands whether or not they want to make that available, but certainly that is not Apple's fault. Right? Either way, this is getting out of control just a bit, I mean you have pirates pirating other pirates now!

So who really is to blame for this piracy gone crazy in the App Store? Apple? Developers? Let us know where you stand on this one!

[Via Wired.com]

Ok, well Apple is really not selling $200 iTunes gift cards for only $2.60 so keep dreaming. But according to Music Ally Chinese "pirates" have hacked the algorithm that generates the iTunes gift cards and so now fake cards are flooding the market for as low as $2.60 in China. When we say flooding we literally mean flooding the Chinese market:

Apparently six months ago, a $200 card went for around 320 RMB (roughly $47), but the price has since plummeted to around 18 RMB ($2.60) as more sellers pile in.

With the iPhone 3G getting ready to make an appearance in China it should be interesting to see just how Apple responds to this. Apple will more than likely make a quick change to nullify the pirates ability to create these cards but it's not like you can do away with the ones already in circulation as there is no easy way to decipher a bogus card from one that is legit (unless they have some super secret Apple wonder-ETL and ad-hoc query/number-crunching monster we don't know about).

[Via Music Ally]

Crackulous, while surrounded by some initial humor, wasn't funny for developers who work night and day to feed their families only to see their work ripped off. (Come on, how many of us would like it if developers walked off without paying for their ultra-sized combo meals at our work!). Well, now it looks like some of them are fighting back.

Christina Warren over at TUAW talked to the folks behind the new Kali Anti-Piracy service and liked what she saw:

Essentially, Ripdev has figured out how to put an extra wrapper around iPhone apps, which not only prevents the app from launching or functioning properly if it has been cracked, but also prevents the current cracking tools from working on the app at all. Even better, this process only uses documented and allowed calls, making it SDK compliant. Oh -- and if the app is legitimately purchased, it can run on a jailbroken iPhone without a problem.

Daring Fireball, for their part, argues that the best anti-piracy doesn't make itself immediately known, but also doesn't simply kill a pirated app from running: that might just spread rumors that the app is unstable instead of protected. He references one of my favorite anti-piracy stories of the recent age, involving developer Panic.

In general, however, the iPhone has a unique ID, knows who you are, and where you are, so we have to wonder if even the idea of "corroding the soul" isn't enough to stop piracy, the threat of angry developers pwning the pirates might constrain it slightly?

Ridiculously funny exchange between Adam from Gizmodo and the developer of Crackulous -- the jailbreak app meant to pirate legitimate apps, see Jeremy's post this morning -- who's complaining that someone is illegitimately pirating his hard work.

Adam, you are linking to a pirated version of the app. Please link to REMOVED (the official Crackulous site) instead of supporting the pirates in the crackulous article. Thanks.

Are you serious? This isn't a joke? You're seriously trying to stop an app designed to pirate apps from being pirated?

No but I need people to support my work... I deserve appreciation.

But the people who have legit apps that Craculous will help pirate don't? You honestly don't see the irony here?

Would you say it's ironic or... poetic?

[Thanks to Jamesus for the tip!]

[UPDATE: Erica Sadun of Ars Technica weighs in on Crackulous, and the humor of pirating pirate software... - Rene]

Let me start out by saying none of us here at TiPb condone any type of piracy. You think you deserve to get paid at the end of the day for your work? So do developers and their hungry children.

That being said, Apple must be saying Uh-Oh right about now. Crackulous, which is now available via Cydia, enables you to strip the protection off most apps from the App Store. What this simply means is if a single person purchases an app, he or she can put the app out there -- for free -- for anyone who has a Jailbroken iPhone to grab.

Of course, it was simply a matter of time before someone in the Jailbreak community came up with an app such as Crackulous, and we can just imagine how many new Jailbreak artists there will be because of this new app.

You can pretty much count on the fact that Apple is already addressing this issue with a FairPlay (their DRM that wraps all iTunes App Store apps) fix that will turn up in the next software update. Another cat and mouse game has just been born.

[Via Engadget Mobile, thanks to themurdock for the tip]