iPhone's Network Lock Hacked By Teen

17-Year-Old Frees Much-Hyped Cell Phone For Use On Other Carriers Besides AT&T

(AP)  A 17-year-old hacker has broken the lock that ties Apple's iPhone to AT&T's wireless network, freeing the most hyped cellphone ever for use on the networks of other carriers, including overseas ones.

George Hotz of Glen Rock, N.J., confirmed Friday that he had unlocked an iPhone and was using it on T-Mobile's network, the only major U.S. carrier apart from AT&T that is compatible with the iPhone's cellular technology. In a video posted to his blog, he holds an iPhone that displays "T-Mobile" as the carrier.

While the possibility of switching from AT&T to T-Mobile may not be a major development for U.S. consumers, it opens up the iPhone for use on the networks of overseas carriers.

"That's the big thing," Hotz said in a phone interview from his home.

The phone, which combines an innovative touch-screen interface with the media-playing abilities of the iPod, is sold only in the U.S.

AT&T Inc. spokesman Mark Siegel said the company had no comment and referred questions to Apple. A call to Apple was not immediately returned. Hotz said the companies had not been in touch with him.

The hack, which Hotz posted Thursday to his blog, is complicated and requires skill with both soldering and software. It takes him about two hours to perform. Since the details are public, it seems likely that a small industry may spring up to buy U.S. iPhones, unlock them and send them overseas.

"That's exactly, like, what I don't want," Hotz said. "I don't want people making money off this."

He said he wished he could make the instructions simpler so users could modify the phones themselves.

"But that's the simplest I could make them," Hotz said. The next step, he said, would be for someone to develop a way to unlock the phone using only software.

The iPhone has already been made to work on overseas networks using another method, which involves copying information from the Subscriber Identity Module, a small card with a chip that identifies a subscriber to the cell-phone network.

The SIM-chip method does not require any soldering, but does requires special equipment, and it doesn't unlock the phone — each new SIM chip has to be reprogrammed for use on a particular iPhone.

Both hacks leave intact the iPhone's many functions, including a built-in camera and the ability to access Wi-Fi networks. The only thing that won't work is the "visual voicemail" feature, which shows voice messages as if they were incoming e-mail.

Since the details of both hacks are public, Apple may be able to modify the iPhone production line to make new phones invulnerable. The company has said it plans to introduce the phone in Europe this year, but it hasn't set a date or identified carriers.

There is apparently no U.S. law against unlocking cell phones. Last year, the Library of Congress specifically excluded cell-phone unlocking from coverage under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Among other things, the law has been used to prosecute people who modify game consoles to play a wider variety of games.

Hotz collaborated online with four other people, two of them in Russia, to develop the unlocking process.

"Then there are two guys who I think are somewhere U.S.-side," Hotz said. He knows them only by their online handles.

Hotz himself spent about 500 hours on the project since the iPhone went on sale on June 29. On Thursday, he put the unlocked iPhone up for sale on eBay, where the high bid was above $2,000 midday Friday. The model, with 4 gigabytes of memory, sells for $499 new.

"Some of my friends think I wasted my summer, but I think it was worth it," he told The Record of Bergen County, which reported Hotz's hack Friday.

Hotz heads for college on Saturday. He plans to major in neuroscience — or "hacking the brain!" as he put it to the newspaper — at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

[remag1234-2009]

Hey Rafterman1, It appears that you are extremely jealous. If you watched the movie "Catch Me If You Can" you''ll note that the "criminal" is now one of the leaders in stopping the crime he was an expert at. So yes, companies will be after Holtz which is more than you can say....
Give credit where credit is due. Holtz deserves CREDIT for a job well done.

[random_radar]

"You bought and paid for it, you should be able to do as you please with it. Any restrictions on the modification and legal use of your own property as you see fit are unconstitutional, including hardware, software, music, and video.
Posted by brianbwb at 03:05 AM : Aug 27, 2007"

You must have modified your version of the constitution. The original doesn''t say that--the only thing it mentions is patent and copyright protection to prevent people from messing with the intellectual property you sell.

[trenticus-2009]

Good for you kid! Way to spend your summer. Most kids are out partying and running the streets, but not you! I think you''ll have plenty of job offers after graduation, if not a slew of them now.

[brianbwb-2009]

Hotz''s hack involved soldering a switch to a trace from a chip, then rewriting some code. The code can be modified by Apple, but the hardware part cannot, unless they want to spend big bucks sealing the circuit in a box, making the phone unserviceable.

You bought and paid for it, you should be able to do as you please with it. Any restrictions on the modification and legal use of your own property as you see fit are unconstitutional, including hardware, software, music, and video.

[incog-nito]

This must be important news. I''m sure teenagers who regularly read CBS news will find this information very useful.

[incog-nito]

This must be important news. I''m sure teenagers who regularly read CBS news will find this information very useful.

[toolmangler-2009]

Apple hasn''t learned a thing since the 70''s about marketing. It (proprietary Hardware and software) is what kept RadioShack and Apple Computer from being dominant in the world. Bill Gates and IBM learned that if you give the entreprenuer a chance at your products, they will make changes that call for more changes ''ad infinitum'' and the money tree flourishes.

[rafterman1]

===Yep, all kinds of employers just go ape chit to hire the new employee who admits spending all summer HACKING into a network, violating laws and copyrights too no doubt, a real winner there!===

Except we all know that the cellular service companies are just legalized extortionists. Even if laws were violated (which I don''t think any were), then good!

[luckygirl042]

The CIA or FBI will probably hire this kid.
Good for him!

[dukeudevil]

Superb!

[fizzie319]

All of you guys who say that Holtz violated the law...

As this article specifically states:

"There is apparently no U.S. law against unlocking cell phones..."

And by the way, way to go Holtz! Way to productively show your G33kd0m! :)

[drinuk]

We need more kids like this, the monopolies are writing their own laws, are far too interfering and frankly need bringing down a peg. Maybe his next project should be against the over invasive attitude and practices of Microsoft.

[keithle1]

Teen power!

How many hackers are female?

Without the male brain, you''d have no telephone, computer, car, airplane, lightbulb, etc. You name it.

[oleander8]

"This really has nothing to do with whether or not something is LEGAL. That is up to the US Congress."[Posted by klewt]

No, that is up to the Justice department - Congress makes laws, Justice enforces laws, and the Executive brance tries to get around both of them.

[jennmarie620]

Newster1 ~

Did you read the article at all, or at least all the way through? It specifically stated that this young man violated NO laws or copywrites. All he did was buy a cellphone and spend the summer working on it so that he could use the carrier HE wanted to use - not just the carrier that you have to use when you pick a phone you want. I applaud him for his dedication and focus, and I think he will be a great benefit to the neuroscience community.

[shanev137]

It looks like they cost $10.

Who knows if they really work or not though.


http://tinyurl.com/2gjtrp

[christiansin]

I would hire this guy in a second.

[nothappyatall]

Yep, all kinds of employers just go ape chit to hire the new employee who admits spending all summer HACKING into a network, violating laws and copyrights too no doubt, a real winner there!

[usayesterday]

If he doesn''t make money off of this experiment, then he sure as h''ell will make a killing in the job market!

George, if you''re reading this... forget a resume, just take the various news articles of his experiment and throw them down on the hiring manager''s desk....

...then tell them how much money you want.

(Okay, don''t follow those instructions exactly, but in terms of your tallent and what you have to offer a prospective employer... you get my point).

[usayesterday]

AT&T bites the big *** anyway.

Oh, I''m sorry, it was the "former" Cingular.

One of the golden rules of American business:

- If you gain a krappy reputation with the products and/or services you sell.... just change your company identity (brand)! It''s cheaper than actually FIXING the problem.