What you need to know
- Corellium's CEO has written an open letter in response to Apple's lawsuit against the company.
- The letter claims Apple is trying to stifle the jailbreaking community.
- She also points out the benefits of security that jailbreaking has brought the company.
Back in August, Apple filed a lawsuit against Corellium, a software company that specializes in replicating iOS and selling it to security researchers. That lawsuit is gaining more attention today since Amanda Gorton, the CEO of Corellium, penned an open letter stating that Apple is trying to "eliminate public jailbreaks" and that all in the jailbreaking community should be worried.
Reported by 9to5Mac, Apple has recently taken the lawsuit to another level by filing a DMCA against Corellium. This move is in addition to the original complaint that states the company's product is an illegal copy of Apple's operating system and that there is no basis for the product to existing.
"This is a straightforward case of infringement of highly valuable copyrighted works. Corellium's business is based entirely on commercializing the illegal replication of the copyrighted operating system and applications that run on Apple's iPhone, iPad, and other Apple devices ... Corellium explicitly markets its products as one that allows the creation of "virtual" Apple devices. For a million dollars a year, Corellium will even deliver a "private" installation of its product to any buyer. There is no basis for Corellium to be selling a product that allows the creation of avowedly perfect replicas of Apple's devices to anyone will to pay."
Corellium's response to the recent DMCA is an open letter from their CEO, Amanda Gorton. The letter expresses concern that Apple is using the lawsuit to set a precedent against jailbreaking and the jailbreaking community.
"Apple's latest filing against Corellium should give all security researchers, app developers, and jailbreakers reason to be concerned ... Apple is using this case as a trial balloon in a new angle to crack down on jailbreaking. Apple has made it clear that it does not intend to limit this attack to Corellium: it is seeking to set a precedent to eliminate public jailbreaks."
The letter also points out the importance of jailbreaking, citing the recent case of ToTok, an app in the App Store that was discovered by jailbreakers to be a surveillance tool by the United Arab Emirates.
"Across the industry, developers and researchers rely on jailbreaks to test the security of both their own apps and third-party apps – testing which cannot be done without a jailbroken device. For example, a recent analysis of the ToTok app revealed that an Apple-approved chat app was being used as a spying tool by the government of the United Arab Emirates, and according to the researchers behind this analysis, this work would not have been possible without a jailbreak.
Corellium says that they will be responding to the DMCA filing in court. Apple has not responded to the open letter.
