Aside from voiding warranties on jailbroken and unlocked iDevices, Apple has filed for a patent that identifies and blocks unauthorized use including jailbreaking of iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. It gives Steve jobs the means to retaliate when iPhones aren’t being used in ways Apple doesn’t expressly permit. Would it be an end to iOS jailbreaking? Seems to be!
The patent talks about the systems and methods for identifying unauthorized users access on stolen devices to protect sensitive information, such as credit card numbers and passwords. For example, activities such as entering an incorrect password a predetermined number of times in a row, hacking, jailbreaking or unlocking of the iPhone, removing a SIM card from the iPhone, or moving a predetermined distance away from a synced device can be used to detect an unauthorized user. Even a sudden increase in memory usage of the iPhone or iPad can indicate that a hacking app is being run and that an unauthorized user may be using the jailbroken idevice.
Theoretically, Apple could then wipe personal data from these devices and then alert AT&T to “shutdown any telephone service to the electronic device, shutdown the electronic device itself, or otherwise suitably restrict the functions of the electronic device.”
It seems that Apple wants to kill or block jailbroken devices under the guise of protecting their customers from theft, since it may not be able to determine whether a device has been stolen or if it is being intentionally jailbroken by users. However, the U.S. government legally authorized iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad owners to jailbreak in order to install any third party applications of their choice that haven’t been approved by Apple.
Via – theregister