You Have Spoken: It’s OK to Hack Your Smartphone
Hacking or jail-breaking a smartphone has been around for as long as smartphones have existed, and as we recently discussed, there is an active community participating. Our poll a few days ago showed how strongly our readership feels about the ability to hack a phone: Over 800 folks responded in the first day. Here are the results of the poll, which has now been closed.
We should first point out that our readership is a technically savvy bunch for the most part, and this no doubt impacted the results of this poll. Most newbies shy away from doing things like jailbreaking a phone simply because they are intimidated by the process, but not so our readers. The results of the poll bring to light how smartphone owners definitely feel that they own the phone, not the OEM or the carrier.
Read on to see the results.
The breakdown of the responses to the question “Is hacking (jailbreaking) your phone OK to do?” are as follows:
- Absolutely not, it’s stealing- 56 votes (6%)
- Depends on the circumstances- 89 votes (10%)
- Yes it’s OK, it’s MY phone- 720 votes (83%)
- Total- 865 votes (99% rounding effect)
While I am not surprised to find the majority feel it’s OK to hack their smartphone, it does surprise me somewhat to see how overwhelming that POV is reflected. There are a number of factors that determine how much trouble those who hack their phones are exposed to (carrier TOS violation, EULA violation, etc.) but not that many respondents are worried about them.
Many poll respondents left some excellent comments to explain their vote:
We’re talking about a private contract between you and the vendor here, folks: that’s all an EULA is. Businesses breach contracts with each other all the time; especially when the balance of incentives and risks makes it rational to do so. The law has a concept for this too: it is called “efficient breach”. – Benjamin Ries
If you go off of TOS and EULAs and whatever other licensing agreements you (are forced) to accept when you purchase a phone then the answer and simple: it is not okay. There is no way around that. However, I think what most of us struggle with is whether or not those agreements are fair. I think most of us can agree (as the poll is currently indicating) that we should be allowed to use our device as we see fit. We have already purchased it and if we want to take it apart, we should be able to take it apart. If we want to use it as a paper weight, then so be it. If we want to install certain software on it, then we should. – Jose R. Ortiz
I think it depends on what you’re doing with you hacks. If you’re hacking to steal service, I think that’s a problem. If you’re hacking to improve your user experience, I don’t see a problem with it. – Nate
I have a friend whose iPhone 3G was hacked not to long ago. I loved the customizations that he was able to put on it once it was hacked. So, as soon as they hack the 3GS, I’m going to jailbreak it as well. I won’t even think twice! – Manny
It is YOUR phone. You bought it, paid for it and can do with it as you will. If it came with a contract to a provider you are still legally obligated to fulfil that contract but the carrier is in no more of a position to tell you what you can or cannot do with your phone than the manufacturer is.
The iPhone is a good example. Apple cannot legally stop you from hacking the phone but they can “brick” your phone via software updates without fear of reprisal as you are modding thier software. If you installed something elso on the device, say linux for example, then you arent affected in any way. – Connall Bullock
Rightly or wrongly, the readership has spoken, and quite eloquently at that. We recommend you spend some time and read through the comments submitted to the poll if you are on the fence about whether hacking a phone is right or wrong.
I know its late, the results are already in, but here is my take:
1) If you acquire your phone with a contract, you are obligated to fulfill at least two key provisions of that contract, namely its duration and service level. The provider is most interested in those provisions and enforces them most aggressively. In fact, there is quite a cottage industry on the resale of subsidized phones. As the original acquirer of the subsidized phone you shouldn’t hack the phone.
2) If you acquire a phone through a third party or by fulfilling the duration and service level of your contract, the phone and its software are yours. You should do with them as you please except for –
3) One should never hack a phone for the purpose of stealing service (voice or data) from the provider or another individual.
4) Tethering should only be done according to the provider’s stipulations. (I will admit this is a bit of a gray area; if the provider has a cap, and charges a premium for overages, what difference does it make to the provider if 5gb of usage comes from tethering? Arguably, they want a user to go over the limit and incur incremental charges.)
It is rather scary that the concept of intellectual property is basically not respected.
It *is* rather scary that the concept of physical property is basically not respected by 6%.
Intellectual property is a fabricated legal construct. IP laws are day by day are making products and services less enabling and more disabling by adding more caveats, controls, stipulations etc in what you can and cannot do.
A balance must be struck but currently the line is drawn too far in favour of the corporations.