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Updated: Google Android G1 Jailbreak ("That Didn't Take Long")
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Fri, 7 Nov 2008 03:16:07 -0500
Begin forwarded message: From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com> Date: November 6, 2008 11:00:19 PM EST To: dave () farber net Cc: lauren () vortex com Subject: Updated: Google Android G1 Jailbreak ("That Didn't Take Long") Updated: Google says a patch to close the G1 jailbreak described below will be pushed out soon ( http://tinyurl.com/g1-jailbreak-patch ). Will we see a repeat of the PSP/iPhone root battles after all? [ A few years ago, I discussed the "arms race" that developed between Sony and PSP portable game console users, with Sony wanting to keep the platform closed, and users repeatedly opening it up to other applications. We've seen a similar war between Apple and users of the iPhone. Now the HTC Google Android G1 is added to the list of "cracked" platforms, but given its much more open status to begin with, there's reason to believe that the situation may be significantly different from those earlier examples. But this illustrates yet again how quickly information of this sort flows, and how rapidly and effectively associated collaboration can be initiated, given the realities of the Internet. Keeping tech secrets in the Internet age? Don't bank on it! -- Lauren ] - - - Google Android G1 Jailbreak ("That Didn't Take Long") http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000460.html Greetings. Well, we knew it would happen, but you gotta give the gang over at "xda-developers" ( http://www.xda-developers.com ) credit for moving at warp speed. Looks like the HTC Google Android G1 has already been "jailbroken" -- that is, a procedure developed to grant full read/write "root"-level privileges on the device. This potentially opens up capabilities not presently available to users on the G1, such as running applications from storage cards (instead of from limited internal memory), true daemons, and ... well, all kinds of useful and fun stuff. The article at http://tinyurl.com/g1-root-jailbreak gives more background on this development, and accurately (in my opinion) explains why it seems relatively unlikely that a serious iPhone-like "arms race" between Google and G1 users will develop to try repeatedly close (and crack) this sort of access to the G1's internals. After all, the G1 is vastly more open than the iPhone to begin with, and apparently the G1 root crack was also (as one might expect) far simpler to implement than was the case in iPhone-land. Still, time will tell. Have fun. But if you've never played Linux sysadmin, please don't complain to me if you brick your phone! % su # --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein lauren () vortex com or lauren () pfir org Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 http://www.pfir.org/lauren Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org Co-Founder, NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com ------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
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- Updated: Google Android G1 Jailbreak ("That Didn't Take Long") David Farber (Nov 07)