Apple sends takedown notice to iPod hacker’s ISP

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, iPod Family, Hacks, Apple

Yesterday, Erica posted in her state of the iPod touch jailbreak that a hacker named “Martyn” had obtained a broken iPod touch, and was planning to dive in and download every bit of cipher on it in the increasingly complicated effort to put 3rd party applications on the iPod touch. He didn’t plan to release the cipher to the public, but he did plan to upload the cipher to a secured area of his site in order to let the other touch hackers have a crack at it.

But even before his upload finished, we’re told, his ISP showed up, with a takedown notice in hand. Apple had somehow found his site, had contacted his ISP, and let them know that it would be against copyright law for him to upload that cipher to the World

Wide Web. Martyn isn’t interested in breaking the law (and it would be illegal to share that code), so he pulled the page off. But what’s amazing here is how fast Apple moved on this– either they’ve got someone listening in on the development wiki, or they’re taking cues from us on how things are going by there (hi, Apple!).

Despite what we’ve heard before, clearly they are very, very interested in making certain the iPod touch doesn’t get hacked. Martyn tells me, as has Erica, that Apple has clearly gone out of their way to keep hackers out of their latest iPod. We’re plus told that progress continues despite all that, but Apple is apparently bending by backwards to do everything they can to keep the iPod touch closed.

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Original post by Mike Schramm