Hackers Scoff At iPhone Warning - Page 2

This caveat was intended to prevent car manufacturers from voiding warranties on their cars after customers used third-party supplies to change the spark plugs or replace a radiator.

But at least one attorney thinks folks with unlocked iPhones are going to need something more substantial than a rather liberal interpretation of the Lemon Law.

"Once a person modifies the product, Apple is under no obligation at all," said T. Michael Flynn, an attorney based in Carrollton, Ga. who is familiar with the particulars of the Magnuson-Moss Act. "I believe Apple has the resources and the standing to maintain its position on the warranty. To me, it's like abusing the product. It wasn't designed to be unlocked so I don't think there's much of a case there."

Apple representatives were unavailable for comment on the backlash or defend their position on the warranties.

While the iPhone firmware Apple intends to upgrade is protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, the Copyright Office issued an exemption last year that allows consumers to unlock their cell phones "for the sole purpose of lawfully connecting to a wireless network."

That means individual you can legally unlock your iPhone but you can't sell an unlocked iPhone or sell the software used to unlock iPhone without violating the DCMA.

The details and legal implications weren't terribly important to the vast majority of people posting their thoughts on Slashdot Wednesday.

"Morality leaves the equation when a billion-dollar corporation is on the other end of the transaction," wrote someone using the moniker "DustyShadow. "Apple is the one not playing fair here. Not the iPhone owners."

"Poor Apple. People are buying things from them and then using them in ways that Apple hadn't intended," wrote "schon." "I mean God forbid that someone would buy something and then not expect the vendor to have complete and utter control over it! What is this world coming to?"

Others disagreed.

"I think the unlocked iPhone owners are the ones not playing fair," wrote "cyberworm." "They knowingly took the risk of bricking their iPhones when they unlocked them. They knew (or should have known) that the potential for the iPhone to become unusable in the future existed."

For now, Apple seems to have the upper hand in its battle with hackers and those holding unlocked iPhones.

But it's probably fleeting.

"It would be quite easy for Apple to lock updates so that owners of contract-breaching unlocked phones would not be able to update them," Robert Graham, CEO of Errata Security, wrote in an e-mail to InternetNews.com. "Except hackers are likely to hack the updates so that they can be applied. Whatever Apple does to lock phones can be unlocked by hackers."