‘AppShare’ + ‘Installous’ = Theft
by Jody Mitoma on October 3, 2008 at 12:46 am 
As disappointed as I may be to announce the following, I’m doing it for the betterment of the community…
Word has it that there is a new app out there for jailbroken iPhone’s that goes by the name of ‘Installous’. In conjunction with another app called ‘AppShare’ you are supposedly capable of downloading App Store applications (yes, that includes those that have a price tag) and download them for free of charge.
Now, I don’t know about all of you, but I am HIGHLY against this act, and can guarantee that I will never install either of these applications on my iPod touch or future iPhone 3G. Fact is, my iPod touch isn’t even jailbroken anyway, but I will admit, that is because I am simply todio lazy to do so. But one thing I wouldn’t be too lazy to do, if I were a thieve, is jailbreak my iPod, and install AppShare and Installous. I just plain and simply don’t agree with such tardiness, nor do I agree with theft.
This is despicable, and the creator of said app should be jailed. As harsh as it sounds, do remember that he is literally stealing, and helping thousands (possibly even millions) of other people steal, the work of thousands of programmers, who work long and hard hours (or spend thousands of dollars hiring programmers) to produce these applications.
Readers, please keep in mind that this post was not intended to broadcast the fact that it is possible to steal from the App Store, but instead posted to share the fact that this is actually being done. I hope that if this news gets popular enough, Apple will take things into their own hands, and either rid the internet of said jailbreaking apps, or posts an update to fix said issue, making such illegalities no longer possible.
I can only ask that none of you actually go out and download these two apps and start downloading paid applications from the App Store… If you can’t afford it, don’t get it. It’s as simple as that, folks.
(via CBiPhone) Hey, want to know how I found this iPhone related blog? T’was quite easy, actually. The owner of CBiPhone is actually directly hot linking one of Touch Podium’s images. And not only that, but they are also making use of our “Frapstr.com” logo in a manner we disagree with, too!
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Posted in Application Related, Important, Jailbreak, News Related, Recognition
October 3rd, 2008 at 12:55 am
CBiPhone and ipodtouched can both liplock my anus. We’ll do something about that hotlinking, and they’re probably not going to like it. But I will.
October 3rd, 2008 at 12:58 am
After tonight I’d like to see y’all try and hotlink from Touch Podium.
Just tryyyyy it.
October 3rd, 2008 at 1:43 am
Hello Jody & Eric,
I am thankful to you two for linking to my QuickPWN blog, and I would like to state that I am fully against cracked apps. Jailbreaking should be done for using open source software that is made by developers who like making free apps. It should not be used for downloading paid App Store Applications that people have illegally cracked and downloaded from this app. Developers have worked hard creating these apps and making them available in the app store. If you are downloading them illegally think of it as committing a crime or fraud. I know a lot of people will be doing this because there will be people who pirate everywhere.
Please edit the HTML post and within the URL add rel=”no follow”, here is how it should look like: . What this does is that it won’t give some Google love to this blog so Google won’t really give it a high ranking in the search engine just because you linked to it. So please do this so you don’t end up helping this website get good rankings.
Jody or Eric, please remove iPodTouched.net from your affiliates link, they have supported cracked apps and will continue to do so. It is not good to affiliate with a website of this sort of activity.
I hope Apple can come out with a fix so developers don’t loose their money for all the hard work they did.
October 3rd, 2008 at 1:55 am
Dear QuickPWN.com Webmaster,
I am glad you agree with us on this front, as theft is definitely one of my biggest pet-peeves. I’ve got a few friends that do steal products every now and again, and I feel good knowing that I completely disagree with their decisions to do so.
Unfortunately as our comments do accept HTML, it seems as if your HTML codding was parsed in with your text, causing a bit of a mess there. But I think I know what I must do, and I will do that now, as I agree with what you’ve written.
Thanks for the comment. I will take care of removing iPodTouched.net from our affiliates now. While on the topic of affiliate links, care to do so with us with QuickPWN? In fact, I will add a QuickPWN URL to our affiliates list right now, and hopefully you will do the same.
October 3rd, 2008 at 1:57 am
Alright, looks like Eric beat me to adding rel=”no follow”. Thanks Eric.
October 3rd, 2008 at 2:00 am
The nofollow tag has been added to the link, and we’ve replaced ipodtouched with QuickPWN.
(I didn’t even realize we had that damn site in our blogroll. Gah! I hate those bastages…)
I too hope Apple can do something about this without crippling jailbreaking. It’s crap like this that can ruin the jailbreaking scene for good and those abject morons don’t even realize that. Frickin’ selfish bastards, I hope they rot.
October 3rd, 2008 at 5:17 am
I’ve been ripped by a handful of Apps that I bought from said hard working programmers etc that I wish they would offer a trial first. A lot of them just want a quick buck and sell you crappy and buggy software. This also encourages folks to just steal. You can’t best free. Fair pricing and trials before you buy are nice insentives for stopping or at least bring down the percentage of the pirating. I use the Apps mentioned and if I like the software I buy, sometimes I don’t. By having trials some (a lot more than you might think) developers will and are for those ones that do offer trial Apps, a decline in sales because people trying out the App(s) realize they suck or are buggy etc and therefore don’t bother to purchase. Intelliborn is a good example of a company that offers a generous two weeks (last I checked) trial of their App Intelliscreen. Take a page from them and others developers, and you may see more sales or as I suspect with a lot of the Apps less. That’s my opinion, I could be wrong. PP
October 3rd, 2008 at 7:09 am
PurgatoryPriest,
You’re right. Trials are great, and I favor them myself as well. If I ever release an application/game, I think I will be sure to bring upon a trial version with very minimal features/levels/time limit, etc. I suggest all game developers do the same, as it helps piracy levels lower, and helps lower the level of unwanted purchases for those expecting more out of a certain game. Then again, if you plan on purchasing a game on the App Store, maybe it is of your best interest to search up on that game first — watch a few videos, check out some ratings, etc. If you’re planning on spending cash on a certain app, you’d best do your homework before doing so, otherwise it’s no one’s fault but your own.
Also, read up on the use of commas, ’cause that was a bitch to read man.
October 3rd, 2008 at 7:15 am
Thank you for bringing this website to my attention Eric and Jody, I love Touch Podium. I reported the iPod Touched website and got them shutdown by their host for using cracked apps. See my post at http://www.haklab.com/2008/10/ipod-touched-down-success.html
My website Haklab.com is dedicated to anti-piracy and stopping big iphone cracked apps website from operating. I’ve successfully managed to get some of the well known websites shut down simply by reporting them. I am infamous in the cracking scene, a lot of crackers hate me as you can tell by the numerous comments in my blog. If only I had a lot of supporters on my blog, I could easily organize a structure that would allow us to easily report big iphone cracks websites and get them shut down.
Is it possible for TouchPodium to add Haklab.com as an affiliate? I need some support from my buddies.
October 3rd, 2008 at 7:45 am
Dear Haklab,
Thank you for leaving such an informative post.
I am happy to see you were able to get iPod Touched (.net) off the internet! Congratulations is in order. I’m glad we were able to help you out with that one, too. Thanks for mentioning our blog within the post. It is appreciated.
Yeah, I see you’ve got a lot of haters there. Heck, you’re doing the right thing though, and I support your cause 100%.
I’ve added your link (www.haklab.com) to the Touch Podium affiliates links, and I hope you will do the same on your website.
I hope you continue to bring down illegal websites, and that hopefully one day we can eliminate piracy for the iPhone entirely! (Highly doubt this is at all possible, but the closer we are, the better.)
I am proud to say that Touch Podium is an official supporter for HakLab.
October 4th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
You do realise you just painted a big old target on your backs with that Jody, right:)
I’m on the fence about this. Yes piracy is wrong, but there is so much garbage makes it onto the appstore with no way to try before you buy and no way to get a refund. So I think piracy does have it’s benefits to be quite honest all the time there is no quality control on the Appstore. I’ve been lucky so far with stuff I’ve bought, but several free apps crash constantly for me. I’ve stopped buying stuff from the store now because I realise sooner or later I’ll waste my money and pay for something that crashes endlessly.
So I guess iPodTouched was stealing content verbatim as well? Since I saw stuff from here that seemed to be just straight copied and pasted.
October 4th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
@HakLab – I’m glad you were able to wipe them off the ‘net — and I’m glad there are people like you around to help do it. I don’t want to see the iPhone scene marred with rampant piracy, especially at the expense of the jailbreak scene, which is otherwise filled with lots of great people and developers and not a few most excellent apps that just wouldn’t make it to the App Store. I’m afraid it’s a lot cause ultimately — but that doesn’t mean it has to be made easy for them. Please keep up the good work. There are tons of haters, obviously, and they’re always the vocal majority. But if it helps, you’ve got some upstanding normal folk who are totally behind you. (Having been a developer myself I know all about having my work stolen. I’m pretty pragmatic about it — that kind of thing is as inevitable as sunrise — but if you can throw some darts and hit one or two in the buttock, well, so much the better.
)
@Uncle – There absolutely should be more free trials on the App Store, and I think more and more developers are realizing that. Just remember that the App Store isn’t even three months old yet. Give it time, and I’m sure we’ll see a lot more demos pop up on the App Store. That’ll help the developers, help stop those who are okay with piracy on a “try before you buy” basis not feel like they have to resort to that to try something out, and as a fringe benefit will give me more to write about on Frapstr.
October 4th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
Boogie,
If the application does not come with a stand alone free trial version, then your best bet would be to either go check out some videos of the game in action, or check out several of the many review websites available to you out there. There are tons.
You are not the only one buying products from the App Store. If you’ve taken the time to read around on apps you have your eye on, and see that a certain app is in fact experiencing bugs, then you can just as easily not buy it. It’s not that hard really.
If you absolutely need to resort to piracy, then by all means, no one can stop you. But the least you can do is purchase the app if you use it on a frequent bases.
I personally won’t be caught downloading paid apps through Appshare+Installous, but you may do as you please.
This was post made to express my feelings on the idea, and to hopefully maybe open some eyes.
October 4th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Yikes. Looks like Touch Podium sort’a – kind’a started a war between iPodTouched.net and HakLab…. CBiPhone is also participating.
Well, best of luck to HakLab, as I can’t take partnership with websites (iPodTouched.net AND CBiPhone) that feel its fine and dandy to copy/paste posts from Touch Podium (or any other site for that matter), let alone hotlink our images.
Rawrr!…
October 5th, 2008 at 1:15 am
Im sorry for saying this, and i really dont approve of theft. What people do is there own problem, you are simply butting in. Seriously if apple cared dont you think they would do somthing?
Ipodtouched didnt hotlink, Ipwner did. Seriously give a warning first?
People can do what ever they want in this world a theft is one of them. What people get into is there own fun. They can deal with the cops later, but taken down good sites for no reason i do not like.
I do think apple sould of given us all a trail first, but comon touchpodium, haklabs you are just making rightous people suffer.
October 5th, 2008 at 3:00 am
Ryuk,
If you are one for piracy, or theft as a whole, that’s great for you, but that doesn’t mean I, or anyone else for that matter, has to agree with it.
I never told anyone what to do. I only asked, and as far as I’m concerned, asking isn’t illegal.
That comment stating that what people do is their own problem, is fairly obvious. I, being who I am, was only trying to spread the word (in good ways) to have illegal activities be taken off the net. Who are you to tell me that I am not allowed to state my own opinion – let alone on my own website.
Butting in? Excuse me? I’ve done nothing to interfere with your illegalities. You can blame HakLab.com for that. But if you do, you’ll also be butting in yourself. Leave him do what he wants to do, and move on. If you don’t like it, don’t participate in it. That’s pretty much all I can say on that topic.
What the hell is this you’re saying about iPod Touched(.net) not hotlinking Touch Podium(.com)’s images? It is clearly visible on the front page of ipodtouched.net that an image designed, and hosted by Touch Podium and its staff, is being displayed. If you’re misunderstanding the word hotlinking for something else, do a bit of research on the term before babbling on about said sites not doing so. And what’s this about giving a warning first? Do your homework, Ryuk. Like I stated earlier – I didn’t report anything. HakLab’s found Touch Podium, and read the comments left on this very story. Hell, Our discussion in regards to iPod Touched (.net) isn’t even within the main story itself! Give us a break!
Also, as far as I can tell by searching around on the iPwner.net website, there is no hotlinking to Touch Podium images being made.
And here you are saying that these websites are “good”, and that “we’re” taking them down for “no reason”. My first concern is the use of the word “good”. These websites are displaying publicly, the action of illegal movements. Secondly, “we’re” is being used completely wrong. “We” aren’t doing anything — HakLab’s is. And my biggest problem with that sentence is the part where you state that the websites are doing “nothing wrong”. Are you paying any attention at all?…
Also, it is not Apple’s duty to provide trials to all games and applications uploaded onto the iPhone App Store. It is the developers choice, and if they chose not to, then so be it.
And wait a second here… You don’t think Apple “cares” about stuff like this? Oh, you have got to be kidding me, dude.
Apple obviously cares, else they wouldn’t of released multiple firmware updates in the past (before 2.x times) just to stop jailbreakers from doing what they do. If this issue gets big enough, you can almost guarantee that Apple will do something about it.
Oh, and you know what? Touch Podium is _my_ website. I can do whatever I want (well, legally, I can’t, but you know what I mean..) with it. Don’t tell me what to do, sir.
Good night.
PS. If you were “sorry for saying” what you said, you could of easily just dismissed yourself from saying it. Don’t apologize for something you could of simply dodged.
PPS. Sorry, one last comment… I have to mention — your grammar and spelling need work.
October 5th, 2008 at 3:07 am
@Ryuk – Oh come on. By your logic, people witnessing a robbery, traffic violation, murder, rape, or any other crime on the streets should just mind their own damn business and not bother to call 911 because they’d be “butting in.” That’s grade A BS and you know it. Leave it to Apple? Sure, why not. I’ll just leave the next crime I see on the street and hope a nice policeman passes by and sees it. That’s their job after all, and I’d hate to be a buttinski.
People can make whatever choices they will, this is true. People can commit crimes. I can report those crimes — unless you think their right to commit the crime trumps my right to be offended by it and want to put a stop to it. At the end of the day, the people who report the crimes will go home each night to a clean conscience. Those who commit the crimes will ultimately not be going home at all.
You reap the seeds you sow, man, so be careful what you plant.
October 5th, 2008 at 11:51 am
Jody- As i said Ipwner ( somone ipodtouched hired ) was hotlinking. Chill. Haklabs is butting in.
Ipwner didnt know, give a slap on the wrist and were good.
@eric- Im sorry but those are 100% different things. Downloading things that are illegal, but what your saying ( robbery, traffic violation, murder, rape) means your killing somone?… I dont thing downloading is killing anyone. 100% different things.
Lets say somone does rape somone. Would you campare that you Downloading .IPA files.
October 5th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
I did use one of your images but I edited it and gave you credit. And I do link cracked apps but do not crack them or have any part of that. I will edit the post and be sure it is clear that you (touchpodium) do not have anything to do with cracked apps in any way. Feel free to post a comment on any of my posts at :
CBiPhone.Blogspot.com
October 5th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
—— Visit Here—— CBIPHONE.BLOGSPOT.COM ————————
Ok, I have gotten many warnings about Cracked apps being linked by my blog. So as of now I will no longer link or endorse Cracked Apps. Links for cracked apps are avalable all over the web and will probably never go away. If you use or download cracked apps you can still find them, but not on my blog. Also I have been dogged for hotlinking images from touchpodium but just to clear this up. One, I use it as a template and then edited it , just like they got that original image from apples app store. Two, I did give them credit. Finally, I dont see were I went wrong. Other than some people taking it as I ment that TouchPodium endorsed CrackedApps, and They Do Not. Read the post that this post is a response to here.
October 5th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
@Jody.
Your right! My use of commas was terrible. I had a hard time too reading my own post! Doesn’t help typing on the iPhone either. Off to Wiki to study.
October 5th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Ryuk,
iPod Touched is responsible for all whom they hire, thus iPod Touched hotlinked one of Touch Podium’s images. How is that so hard to understand? If the founder of iPod Touched noticed the hotlink (which he should of, as he is responsible for the website and how it is being run), then he should of removed immediately. Copyright infringement is illegal, so he’s in the wrong no matter what. You understand now?…
I don’t need to chill. I’m pretty relaxed, thanks. Hey, here’s an idea, though. Stop butting in. Take your own advice.
Also, Eric’s post in regard to rape/murder, ect. is still true. Rape is illegal. Murder is illegal. And guess what, piracy is illegal.
CBiPhone,
Thank you for explaining yourself, and quite frankly, doing the right thing. You’re still new at this, so I was only trying to save you from a headache in the long run.
Yes, you did use our images, but no you did not give specific credit for the image itself (usually found directly under the image itself). You gave credit for the post writing itself. That is how it works. What you didn’t do right, though, is ask us if you could hotlink our story image. That is not how the internet works, mate.
You do understand what hotlinking is, right?… Well in any case, it is copying an images URL from another website, and simply pasting it on your own website, thus, traffic that hits YOUR website, is costing US in bandwidth. Y’understand? So, say you were an extremely popular blog, hundreds of thousands of hits per day, that would cost us an unbearable amount of bandwidth, and it wouldn’t even be for our own good. Now, I know you’re not a big blog, but that’s completely besides the point in this argument.
PurgatoryPriest,
Hehe, thanks for being so honest. I wasn’t trying to be rude. Also, sorry to be picky, but “Your” should of been spelled “You’re” in that context.
October 5th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
@ryuk – You are completely missing my point entirely. Forget about the nature of the crimes, it’s irrelevant. It could be people stealing shopping carts or dumping their trash out of their car, it doesn’t matter. If you absolutely must have a crime to compare it to, then fine — shoplifting from a store. Any store. You pick, it doesn’t matter. My point was that you are stating that “snitching” on a crime is butting into someone’s business where you have no business butting in, and that’s a steaming pile. Stealing is stealing, whether from a brick and mortar store or online. If anything, stealing iPhone apps (or any software) is worse because it’s so much easier, and there’s an infinite supply.
However, although this is a legitimate argument, not even that is my ultimate point, which is that all of this Appulous and Installous crap will destroy the jailbreak scene. Comprende? Appulous and Installous will ultimately destroy the very scene they seek to serve, thus ruining it for everyone else who enjoy the jailbreak scene for legal reasons. Apple will finally view the jailbreak scene as a real threat instead of just an annoyance, and they will work double-time to close every hole they can.
That is both completely selfish and retardedly short-sighted. Now do you see my point?
CBiPhone – I appreciate your change of heart here, I really think you’re doing the right thing. Even if you don’t agree, the fewer sites that are out there that bring attention to cracked apps, the better the iPhone scene looks as a whole, and the more positively it will be viewed, your site included. Once upon a time I thought like you did, too. Then I became a programmer. Things look a lot different when you’re on the other side of the compiler, where you can see your own hard work, your own personal projects, being ripped off left and right as if no one gives a damn about you or your work. If nothing else, it’s a big ol’ lack of respect, and it’s frustrating, maddening, and depressing. I realize it will happen — it always happens, and will continue to happen — but that doesn’t make it suck any less.
Yeah, there are people on the App Store who basically spent an hour writing the the laziest piece of crap they can and then expect people to pay for it without even a demo to try it out. They’ll learn the hard way — an abject lack of sales — that they need to do better next time.
As for hotlinking and image ripping, the thing is, artwork people do is copyrighted, whether you realize it or not. Those images I did for Frapstr.com (and the teaser image I did which you used and modified) took me 6 hours to do. My use of application icons in the construction of the image fall under fair use laws because they are used in a way that is simply representative of a whole — the App Store, in this case. It’s the same reason any site can post screenshots or title screens; they are used explicitly as an example of the product.
Your use of my Frapstr.com teaser image however does not fall under fair use because A) You weren’t using it to advertise Frapstr.com, and B) You weren’t using it as a general example of app review sites. Instead you were using it to advertise an app/site designed to distribute cracked App Store apps — and furthermore, you modified it, all without permission. This had the net effect of A) Making the image appear as though you are laying claim to its creation, and B) Creating an association between your site, the content and subject matter of the article it was used in, and our sites, which was undesirable and injurious. I realize this was not your intent, but that’s how it ends up coming across, and it is something we do not wish to be associated with in any way, shape or form.
Bottom line is: If you want to use someone else’s images, text, sound, or whatever, in a way that is not considered fair use (see the above link to find out what fair use entails), then you need to ask permission first and abide by the creator’s answer.
As to the issue of hotlinking — that’s generally frowned upon wherever you go, because you’re effectively stealing the other site’s bandwidth, since the images have to be loaded from their site, not yours.
Appulo.us – Your post doesn’t appear here because I deleted it for containing nothing but profanity and threats. (This is why we moderate comments before they are posted). If you want a post to show up here, knock off the cussing and be civil — you know, instead of acting like a little kid throwing a temper tantrum because someone is trying to take away your cookie. ‘Nuff said about that.
October 6th, 2008 at 6:19 am
(EDITORS NOTE: This post has been edited to remove profanity. We have taken the liberty of replacing the cuss words with ones that are more family-friendly, as denoted in square brackets. Also, they make this post much more fun to read. This post is otherwise verbatim.)
ok touchpodium..i got somethin 2 say. Get outta other peoples sites and get a life. I mean honestly, don’t you have anything better to do? ANYTHING? you little nerd acting all tough behind the computer with no life at ALL. If people wanna put up sites like ipodtouchfans or whatever and post what they want, let them. The authorities will get to them sooner or later, but seriously, this stuff isn’t as illegal as rape, murder, theft etc. besides, it’s all cyber[bunnies]. No one cares. Why do you think so many people all over the world download their music rather than buying them? why do you think people download movies illegally? Maybe because they don’t sell the products in their country/area? well the same reason goes for the cracked app store apps. Apples app store is probably in my opinion, one of the biggest [Pampers pull-]ups because it’s unavailable in most of europe, asia and the middle east. How do you expect people to get the apps legally if they aren’t even available in their country? You just expect them to go overseas, apply for that country’s credit card(s) and use app store happily in their home country? BULL [SANDWICH] YOUR WRONG. You see? you have to think about the alternative reasons rather than jumping to conclusions. Although there are some people who have app store in their country and would take advantage of this rule and download for free anyways, there are a lot more people than that small fraction of a [underpants] who would benefit from such sites. So stop this bull [Sean Hannity], stop acting like some cyber superhero or some[beef stroganoff], cause instead youre acting like a little nerd who can talk [Vick's Vap-O-Rub] on the computer and get [pressure treated] around in real life. And if you even think, you could just be all smart and [lizard] and gimme your life story sayin [Academy Award winner Samuel L. Jackson] like “you know nothing about me” or “im no little nerd behinda computer with no life…i [put on] my sock every night”, well keep that [bacon] to yourself. Don’t think you can do whatever you like, thinking the internet is your little playground. Think about that.
October 6th, 2008 at 6:21 am
(EDITORS NOTE: This post has been edited to remove profanity. We have taken the liberty of replacing the cuss words with ones that are more family-friendly, as denoted in square brackets. Also, they make this post much more fun to read. This post is otherwise verbatim.)
oh yea and one more thing, [Jones soda] that happens on the internet isn’t as much of a threat as what happens in the real world.
October 6th, 2008 at 11:41 am
@Truth: There’s so much concentrated, epic fail in your post that I can’t tell if that’s the world’s sorriest excuse at attempting to apply some sort of twisted logic to this topic, or a passable attempt at being a troll. In all seriousness, what are you, 15? 16? I’m certain it must start with a 1 anyway, and there may or may not be another number after it.
You’re way out of your depth here, dude. Not a single point you attempted to bring up could break its way out of a wet paper bag. The logical fallacies are all over the place and there isn’t a single point of debate that holds water.
> you little nerd acting all tough behind the computer with no life at ALL.
Kicking things off with an ad hominem is always a good indication that things are going to go downhill from there.
>this stuff isn’t as illegal as rape, murder, theft etc.
First, you are trying to justify one wrong by comparing it to other, worse wrongs. They call this “comparative morality,” and while it may work in instances where one act is illegal in one place and not another, it doesn’t work here because all crimes I talked about are wrong everywhere, so there is no question as to the morality of the acts in question. Second, this was not the core of my argument, only one component of it used to make a broader point, yet you’re attacking this portion of it to refute the entire point. This is called a straw man argument because you’re attacking a smaller, easier to refute point while conveniently ignoring the broader issue. You might also refer to this as misdirection. Third, you are presenting only two options as if they were the only options (theft or rape/murder/etc.) while ignoring that others exist (don’t to it at all). That’s called a false dilemma, because clearly other options do exist. Finally, something is either illegal or it isn’t. There is no “less illegal” or “more illegal.” Punishments for different crimes vary, but the fact that they are crimes in the first place does not.
>besides, it’s all cyber[bunnies]. No one cares.
Completely nonsensical assertion. Crime is crime, on the streets or on the net. It is no lesser an offense just because it happens online. Just because it’s easier doesn’t mean people care less — if anything, those who are effected by it (developers) care more because it happens in much greater volumes. Please stop talking crap.
>Why do you think so many people all over the world download their music rather than buying them?
Because it’s free, it’s easy, and the chances of getting caught are fairly slim. None of that makes it right.
>Maybe because they don’t sell the products in their country/area?
I can’t buy a Bugatti Veryon here. Does that mean I should fly over to Italy and steal one? No, and you’d be stupid to think so. Just because I can’t get it here doesn’t give me any special right to have it. That’s a dumbass argument to make.
>how do you expect people to get the apps legally if they aren’t even available in their country?
I don’t expect them to get apps at all until the App Store is available to them and they have a legal venue from which to obtain them. Once again, neither a lack of regional availability nor a strong desire to own something gives anyone special rights to get it by any means necessary.
>You just expect them to go overseas, apply for that country’s credit card(s) and use app store happily in their home country?
Now you’re throwing out absurd suggestions to make my unspoken assertions seem silly. This little logical fallacy is known as “appeal to ridicule.”
>you have to think about the alternative reasons rather than jumping to conclusions.
There are no alternative reasons that justify the theft of iPhone apps. Whether it’s available in your area or not, no matter how much you want it, it won’t kill you or even harm you in any way if you can’t get it, so if you think stealing it is justified for either of these reasons then you’re just being a spoiled child.
>so stop acting like some cyber superhero
In case you missed it, we are not involved in HakLab’s efforts in any way. We merely wrote an article that offered our personal opinion on the matter, and HakLab read it. What happened beyond that was nothing to do with us, so don’t presume that we’re trying to be anything other than an iPhone/Touch blog.
>cause instead youre acting like a little nerd who can talk [Vick's Vap-O-Rub] on the computer and get [pressure treated] around in real life. And if you even think, you could just be all smart and [lizard] and gimme your life story sayin [Academy Award winner Samuel L. Jackson] like “you know nothing about me” or “im no little nerd behinda computer with no life…i [put on] my sock every night”, well keep that [bacon] to yourself.
Wonderful, you begin and end with an ad hominem. At least you have a nice sense of symmetry.
>Don’t think you can do whatever you like, thinking the internet is your little playground.
I seem to recall an old saying that would be appropriate here. Something involving a pot and a kettle.
October 6th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Well I download carcked apps and I don’t care If any sites get shutdown for it. Because there’s lots of torrent sites out there like piratebay go there and click on legal threats and you’ll find that nobody can bring them down
October 6th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
The Truth,
I’ve got a (actually, an entire body’s worth of) bone(s) to pick with you.
“ok touchpodium..i got somethin 2 say. Get outta other peoples sites and get a life. I mean honestly, don’t you have anything better to do? ANYTHING? you little nerd acting all tough behind the computer with no life at ALL. If people wanna put up sites like ipodtouchfans or whatever and post what they want, let them.”
- Ahh yeah? Well, I’ve got something to say, too. Don’t tell us what to do. You are not our parents, guardians, or God, for that matter, albeit it seems you think so. We never told you how to live your life, so I suggest you don’t tell us how to live ours. I see you were asking if we had anything better to do than write stories on Touch Podium, in reality, had nothing to do with what you’re main argument is about. My contradictory statement to that is, do you have anything better to do than act as an E-bully and seem tough? ‘Cause you’re not. Not at all. If anything, you’ve gone and made yourself look like an idiot. Well done, mate. I’ve a concern about your reference to iPod Touch Fans, though. And that concern is, “What the hell?” That phenomenal forum hasn’t been mentioned anywhere within this story’s comments before you, so I don’t see why you had the will to mention it. iPod Touch Fans is in fact one of my favorite iPod Touch related websites, and I only have it to thank for Eric and I conjoining as a team. Now, if you mentioned iPod Touched, CBiPhone, or HakLab, then things would of made a little more sense, as these websites are what this entire post’s comments are about.
“The authorities will get to them sooner or later, but seriously, this stuff isn’t as illegal as rape, murder, theft etc. besides, it’s all cyber[bunnies]. No one cares.”
- The authorities may or may not get them – you don’t know that, nor do we. And frankly, we don’t care. That’s not what this is all about. We’re simply stating that we disapprove of stealing paid applications from the App Store. And what’s this you say about nobody caring? You jackass. Of course people care. Just take HakLab as an example. Want another example? Simple. How about the people who spend long hours of the night working on the applications? Ever take a moment to think about them? I highly doubt that…
“You see? you have to think about the alternative reasons rather than jumping to conclusions.”
- What’s this about us jumping to conclusions, dude? Ha ha ha….. Dear heaven’s. Don’t be silly. I thought you were “The Truth”. Christ, you’re far from it, mate. Far from it.
“So stop this bull [poop], stop acting like some cyber superhero or some[beef stroganoff], cause instead youre acting like a little nerd who can talk [Vick's Vap-O-Rub] on the computer and get [pressure treated] around in real life.”
- Eric and I are unable to form bull poop. That comes from a bulls ass, and from a bulls ass only, hence “Bull”, and “[Poop]“. Put it together.
Honesty by my side, it’d seem like you were trying to act more as a cyper-hero than we are, so quit being so hypocritical.
“And if you even think, you could just be all smart and [lizard] and gimme your life story sayin [Academy Award winner Samuel L. Jackson] like “you know nothing about me” or “im no little nerd behinda computer with no life…i [put on] my sock every night”, well keep that [bacon] to yourself.”
- Alrighty dude, if you’re going to start telling us to keep things to ourselves, I highly suggest you do the same, and bug off. You’re an annoyance to Eric and I, and bring down the Touch Podium community entirely. Truth be told, you’re not wanted here, so feel free to head out the back door and lock it on your way out… and if you don’t feel like locking it, Eric or I would be more than happy to do so.
“Don’t think you can do whatever you like, thinking the internet is your little playground. Think about that. oh yea and one more thing, [Jones soda] that happens on the internet isn’t as much of a threat as what happens in the real world.”
- Dude, give us a break… Your lack of knowledge astounds me. Whenever have Eric and I stated that we could do whatever we want? Christ, we’ve done nothing to effect anyone with our Touch Podium blog – or any of our other blogs for that matter. If the internet were a playground, and you were roaming around, there would probably be a bit of a mess shortly after your presence was known. Hey man, I’m just sayin’…
Smarten up. Better yet, you should go read up on your English grammar and spelling, too. Your lack of grammar skills really shows your age. You haven’t been on the internet long enough to think you’re king of all that is holy, and like I stated already – you’re far from the truth….
Nerd.
October 6th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
“well….“,
Congrats.
October 6th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
well…..: Pirate bay hasn’t been taken offline because they are only a provider of torrents, some of which are legal, some of which aren’t, and in either case, Pirate Bay does not host pirated material nor endorse it (other than implicitly by their name), they simply provide torrents like every other torrent site out there. Pirate Bay is a tool, and the owners are not responsible for the content of the torrents they link to.
Do not make the mistake of thinking message boards or blogs are the same thing. Torrent sites merely host what they’re told to host by trackers from elsewhere. Message boards and blogs are directly responsible for their content because that content is posted directly.
October 6th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
I know I’m just satin that there will always be a way to get songs movies and cracked apps and the only way to stop it us to shut down the Internet such is highly doubtfull
iPod touched Rox!!!
October 6th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Ahh, so you are satin!
Heh, only buggin’.
Yeah, you’re right, there will _always_ be a way, and we cannot do anything to stop that, but, nor have we tried… Maybe you would like to let HakLab’s know this?…
Then again, don’t. It’s at least worth a try to lower the appeal of said apps.
October 6th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
I never made any claims that it was possible to stop it. But that doesn’t mean those who are opposed to it and wish to try and do something about it should just throw up their hands and give up, either. You’re never going to keep all crime off the streets, but you don’t see cops saying, “Oh, screw it,” do you?
The idea has never been to win. It’s been to make it as difficult for them as possible.
October 7th, 2008 at 4:02 am
haha nice comebacks at the truth guys
btw how do you report a website with illegal material? i know a few which should get shutdown..what do you do?
October 7th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
I think all you guys are pussies. i am gladly and proudly downloading many, many high dollar apps for free via appshare. i think you guys should quit sucking so much [straw] to care about this pointless [stuff] and take advantage of it.
all you guys are [friggen] gay for arguing about being able to get high priced apps for free. you guys cann all suck my [straw]. each and every one of you.
if any of you have any questions on how to download the free apps, (there are multiple ways btw) then feel free to ask me, for i will give you step by step instructions on how to do so.
thank you, pussies.
October 7th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
Justin,
Good evening.
Your IP address, 76.246.175.198, has been reported to AT&T, whom I’ve kindly asked to report your contact information to your local authorities for internet piracy.
Take care of yourself mate.
October 7th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
You know, just once I’d like to see someone who advocates stealing iPhone apps who can spell and construct grammatically coherent sentences. Just once, y’know? Just so I can point to an example and say, “No, not everyone!” whenever someone makes a sweeping statement like, “Everyone who advocates stealing iPhone apps are dumbass morons who can’t even spell the alphabet correctly.”
Maybe someday.
October 8th, 2008 at 4:09 am
aiite guys, its me again. just wanna apologise 4 my rude posts and my attitude towards all of you. i for one, who am no longer downloading cracked apps because we’ve been relocated to europe and app store is available there am now agreeing with the shutting down of such sites. thank you and goodnight. its time tosleeeeeep
October 9th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
£279 for a crappy hollowed out iPhone with “broken” bluetooth = Robbery.
Constant crashes and freezes (when not jailbroken) = Rape.
Jail-break + Appshare + Installous = Justice.
As you can see I am only getting what apple owes me, proper games on my phone.
As for the developers, you go into business with Apple this is what you get.
I have contacted Apple with same sentiments and have gotten no response.
October 9th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
The Truth,
Thanks.
Noyon,
Apple doesn’t our you anything. If you don’t like what the iPhone has to offer, go with something else. I figured that was obvious enough…
October 9th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
I didn’t like what apple’s iphone had to offer, but i like what my iphone has to offer.
October 9th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Good for you lad.
October 9th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
@Noyon – Probably because your sentiments have no basis in any form of reality most humans recognize.
1) Bluetooth isn’t “broken.” It doesn’t support A2DP. Too damn bad. Wait for it or buy another phone. Nobody held a gun to your head and told you to buy an iPhone.
2) Apple’s firmware is buggy so you steal other people’s apps? Oh — I get it! My boss is mean, so I’m going to go and raid all of my co-workers’ wallets. Awesome.
And buy “awesome” I mean “dumbass.”
3) Apple owes you jack, least of all games they didn’t develop and don’t even own the rights to. You got a problem with a game, take it up with the developer. Apple had bupkis to do with it.
4) Nobody is “in business with Apple” any more than electronics manufacturers are in business with Best Buy or Circuit City. Apple made the SDK, and Apple is the store through which developers sell their products. End of association.
Come on, seriously. None of that even comes close to being justification. It’s just a bunch of dumbassery and greed based on perceived “problems” you’re blaming on everyone but the party responsible.
In other words, a typical teenager.
October 9th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
ERIC
You are right, except the teenager bit. Therefore I am a thief. I am cool with that.
If I leave my car keys in the ignition and go home, my car will get nicked, and its as much my fault as it is the thieves. So in the same way if developers (with or without Apple) don’t include/invent proper safeguards against piracy then this will continue to happen.
Also justice is just an opinion. The “justice system” doesn’t really deliver justice it is only a name and is there to make you feel safe. To feel like there is justice in the world.
For example murdering a murderer is just by definition but what percentage of convicted murderers face death?.. only a minority.
Say what you will but it changes neither my mind nor life.
October 14th, 2008 at 1:22 am
Alright. I realize that I’m getting to this a little late, but I only ran across this post tonight, and I’d figure I’d weigh in.
One. Installous and AppShare will not drive programs such as Cydia away, or to the margins. Granted, you much be jailbroken to “pirate” (a technically incorrect term that I have several problems with, but given that it’s in such common usage, it will suffice) AppStore Apps, but AppStore apps and Cydia do separate things. Cydia is APT for the iPhone (a very nice and well implemented idea), and with it comes programs such as gpSPhone and vlc4iphone that utliize functionality such as writing to the framebuffer directly that no App can ever offer under the current SDK. These are simply two examples. The point is that while the case could be made that AppShare/Installous will drive legitimate jailbroken apps away/out of business/etc, it simply isn’t true. I will grant you, however, that if this does continue then Apple may in fact crack down hardcore, and in that respect you are correct in that it will be bad for the legit jailbreak scene.
Two. @ Jody: You’re not trying to tell anyone what to do? That is also untrue. You are telling people to not be “pirates.” To be good, honest, upstanding, AppStore buying citizens. I’m perfectly ok with being told what I ought to do, but please don’t tell me that you’re not doing so. Even if you’re not straight up saying “Don’t be a ‘pirate’,” that’s still your message.
Three. Comparative morality? Let’s see what you said. “all crimes I talked about are wrong everywhere, so there is no question as to the morality of the acts in question.” This is true. However, the way you’re presenting it makes it seem as though you’re arguing that there is no difference between digital “piracy” and rape, and if that’s the case, then I can only imagine the world you must want to live in. One where people have the exact same punishment regardless of the type, degree, or severity of the crime. I’m not denying that “piracy” is of dubious morality and is indubitably illegal. But you come across all “Hammurabi’s Code” and people are going to start worrying about their eyes, no matter what they’ve done.
Four. Onto my view on “piracy”. I’d like to start with a link to a classic geek comic, published today, in fact: XKCD on Piracy. I’d say, I have to agree. As long as DRM exists, I will pirate, because in almost all cases I wind up with a better user experience sans DRM than I would if I had purchased the app. (Generally games, occasionally other programs).
But that doesn’t address the issue at hand, because as of right now, there is no observable DRM in place (of course, the fact that apps have to be cracked before sharing tells us that isn’t the case, but my point is that in no way that I can see, does the FairPlay DRM diminish the user experience) in the AppStore. So why do I “pirate” AppStore apps? Because I can. Because until I have enough money that I feel comfortable paying for good software, I’m simply not going to. And the culture that we live in today supports that. It has honestly become automatic. Music? I can get that online. Movies? Same. Games? Check. Other programs I might need? Definitely. Wait, iPhone apps? Sweet.
People like free things. I personally give away all my software, because I enjoy coding and sharing the amazing things that I’ve done with people. But it is not my livelihood.
Five. One last argument in favor of “piracy.” It’s been said time and again, that people are “stealing” software. No. They are copying it, sometimes against the law, sometimes not. But they are not taking anything away from anyone. No, not even revenue. Because while it’s been beaten to death by both sides, many “pirates” honestly would not go out and buy the game/movie/app if there were no free version available. If there would have been no sale, how is revenue lost? I personally would not have bought any of the Apps that I currently use.
PS. Piracy is such an incorrect term. We’re not highjacking ships on the high seas, and stealing all of their cannonballs. We’re sidling up alongside and copying the cannonballs. They still have the original. Piracy is theft, and what the so called “pirates” are doing is not theft. It is copying, often against the law.
October 14th, 2008 at 3:24 am
Your argument is at least far more coherent than most I’ve heard — I guess I got my “just once” — so I’d like to address them on point:
1. I don’t think we suggested that App Store piracy would kill Cydia or Installer — not directly. I did suggest, however, that App Store piracy, by way of requiring a jailbroken device to use, would kill jailbreaking because where, prior to the App Store, jailbreaking was not considered a serious threat, Apple would now consider it one — big time — and they will work even harder to close any open doors that lead to the availability of pirated apps, regardless of any other uses jailbreaking might have. The fact that jailbreaking can lead to piracy automatically makes jailbreaking a serious threat to Apple.
2. I never suggested that piracy = rape. In fact, I refuted that point to someone else who accused me of making the same analogy. Once again I was in no way suggesting that murder, rape or any other serious crime is equal in severity, nor should be equal in punishment, to piracy.
“Truth” made the absurd argument, and I quote, that “this stuff isn’t as illegal as rape, murder, theft etc.” My rebuttal was that a crime was a crime, and that there’s no such thing as “more illegal” or “less illegal.” There is only “legal” and “illegal” in the eyes of the law. Furthermore, he was trying to justify a lesser wrong by comparing it to greater ones, which is equally absurd. If anything, Truth was the one to make the comparison. You can keep your eye.
3. I will agree that DRM is stupid, at least the way it is implemented. Copy protection has been around almost as long as there have been things to copy, at least on computers. However, companies have taken the concept of copy protection and turned it into “content control” to the degree that they are trying to tell is where, when and how we can use their products, and that is patently idiotic. If I buy a CD or DVD and I want to rip it to my iPhone, I believe that I have that right, and I will all too happily circumvent DRM to do it is required. I paid for it, it’s mine to use how I see fit so long as I am not giving it to other people or otherwise using it in a manner that goes beyond fair use.
But this is not directly about DRM since in this case DRM on App Store software does not diminish the user experience in any way.
4. People like free things, yes. I’d like a free car, a free house, free food, and all the coffee I can drink — free. That neither means I will get them, nor that taking them because I want them is right. Because it is easier to pirate software over the net doesn’t mitigate its criminality, either. It’s still stealing, whether online or off. You downloaded, for free, a piece of software that others have to pay for. This is no different than walking into your local store and taking, for free, a candy bar that others have to pay for. The only difference is that there is no CCTV or suspicious shopkeep watching your every move.
5. Your last argument in favour of piracy is valid, and it is one I have made many times myself when refuting the software industry’s inflated “losses” every time they pop up in some random “OMG PIRACY” FUD article. For years I myself have said that the vast majority of “losses” the software industry complains about — almost certainly over 95% — never had the potential to be sales in the first place because that same majority would never have bought the software if they hadn’t been able to obtain it by other means. But by definition, even a vast majority still means that there is a a small minority who would have, and those are the real losses.
More to the point however, that vast majority is simply helping themselves to something they neither have a right to nor deserve. Those who simply want but can’t afford should ethically just do without like everyone else. No one needs software like people need food, a situation where stealing could be mitigated by desperate need. Software is a luxury, plain and simple, and those who are just taking it without paying for it are just being greedy.
Look, I’m the last person to be proselytizing about software piracy, to be perfectly honest, as I’ve been guilty of it more times than I think it’s possible to count, but I do always try and do the right thing in that if I find something I like, I go out and buy it, because I think it’s worth it and I want to support the people who wrote it. I have stacks of purchased software for that reason, so at the very least I make the effort to mitigate any piracy I might engage in.
And anyway, my real point to all of this was quite simple: I like jailbreaking. Presumably, so do those who pirate App Store games. But piracy will kill jailbreaking, I guarantee it, so those who pirate App Store games are just destroying the very thing they love simply by doing it, and in the process they will ruin the jailbreak scene for everyone else, which is not only short-sighted, but incredibly stupid and selfish.
This is a unique scene and a unique situation. This is not like piracy for desktop computers; Windows, Mac, whatever, don’t require hacking to gain access to the core functionality. Piracy will not suddenly make one’s OS stop working the way one wants. The iPhone and Touch however do require hacking to gain access to the core functionality, and piracy is the best reason Apple has to shut it right down.
6. The word “piracy” has entered common modern parlance to mean altering a piece of software’s code so as to make it accessible for copying and free distribution, in much the same way as piracy on the high seas involved boarding another craft in order to steal its contents. So it goes with the English language, as old terms get applied to new situations, their meanings change to accommodate the new situation as it relates to the old. Language is fluid; it adapts and changes to its user’s needs, and if enough people use it in the new way such that it enters common parlance, its new or updated definition gets officially recognized. “Gay” used to exclusively mean “Happy” or “Joyous.” It’s never used in that manner now. Piracy is still used today in its classical definition, but it is also applied to the theft of computer software by means of cracking. So sayeth Oxford, so it shall be.
October 14th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
You know, its funny Eric. You say
“this stuff isn’t as illegal as rape, murder, theft etc”
Then later on say
“My rebuttal was that a crime was a crime, and that there’s no such thing as “more illegal” or “less illegal.” There is only “legal” and “illegal” in the eyes of the law”
I dont get it. Explain more please Eric! The first sentence you explain urself, then you say the other statement.
So wait… Are you suggesting that raping someone and pirating, you sould go to jail for the same amount of time… Or heavens killing someone. First off, there is such thing as more illegal, they dont say it like that, you’ll just find out when your in the electric chair for stealing a cracked app. I do agree there is a “legal” and “illegal”. But what your saying is everyone deserves the electric chair. ( im useing a on screen keybored, sorry for my short paragraph. )
October 14th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
@Ryuk: Dude, please, read for comprehension, not speed. The statement “this stuff isn’t as illegal as rape, murder, theft etc” wasn’t said by me! It was said by Truth. I was quoting him. I’ve explained this twice now. Please read above.
And no, there is no such thing as more or less illegal. That’s an absurd statement. Something either is or is not illegal. There is no middle ground; you can’t break the law “just a little bit.” Look up the definition of illegal. It is the severity of the crime in the eyes of the law that determines the punishment. This is not the same as more or less illegal. It is illegal, period. It is merely up to the courts then to determine how bad your crime was.
Once again, I did not nor would ever do something as stupid as equate theft with rape or murder. I stated that illegal is illegal. The punishment for doing something illegal depends on what crime you broke. These are different but related concepts. Please learn the difference.
October 15th, 2008 at 3:10 am
why are sites like ihacks.ru and appulous.us still on? should someone bring down their site?
October 15th, 2008 at 3:12 am
i mean appulo.us for my previous post
October 15th, 2008 at 3:43 am
editor if the sites i posted are wrong or somethings please delete the sites name i dont want people to get the wrong idea and go to the sites and actually download the crack apps =X its just that my friend told me the sites
October 16th, 2008 at 3:57 am
Apple knows and probably doesn’t care because ultimately more people are going to be showing off the cool shyt the ipod/phone can do so that other people will be impressed and want to by ipods and iphones. I have several friends in college who now want to get ones because I show the apps off as well as I show off my game system emulators and of the other illegal crap it can do. Does that mean it is right? Hell no. Do I care? FAWK No! I like how you are highly against piracy I found out about the free app combo via your article. That’s when being holier than thou just adds to the problem!!!! LOLZ
October 16th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Jody, there will always be piracy and it will never stop. So who cares and why even waste your time.
October 17th, 2008 at 3:02 am
Don’t forget that Apple gets 30% revenue off of all app purchase made.
Trust me, they care.
October 17th, 2008 at 8:58 am
you shouldnt waste your time preaching this if apple would allow there online store to be accessed world wide and not just a few select countries then some of us wouldnt have to go through the hassle of cracked apps quite fractly i wouldnt pay for them im quite content with the 3rd party apps provided in cydia and installer and for the record i do have an apple id i just only download free apps untill i know the paid ones i want are any good but im just speaking for those worldwide who hasnt seen this pardon my lit always hated english ill stick to the programming language l8r
October 20th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
okay guy ….
like even if its stealing
who gives a fuck
ur NEVER gonna get caught under any circumstances
and i bet ur also against downlaoding movies and songs for free…
so basically if i have no money i cant have fun with apps? thats unfair .. that makes me look like the poor kid at school.. apple is still making their money off those lazy ppl like u who just dont feel like getting a jailbreak ..
here is a scenario
i go to school and i play all these games and stuff on my ipod touch , my friend says cool how much did u pay for them? i say for free. next day the buy an ipod becuz they saw me have so much fun with all my free games
honestly … and also i cant beleive u dont like free things like free apps
like ur not supposed to hate on it
unless ur a millionaire who does give a crap and will pay the money
October 20th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
I don’t care about anything else you said, but this part really stuck out like a sore tooth:
“…so basically if i have no money i cant have fun with apps? thats unfair .. that makes me look like the poor kid at school..”
I’m really sorry, but your alias “homer” suits you well. You’re about as dense as Homer Simpson dude!
If you have no money, your best bet is to get a job and make some. Y’know, it’s called “earning your own income”.
That aside, what the hell are you talking about anyway? There are THOUSANDS of FREE applications on the App Store, so how does what you said make any sense whatsoever?… Christ, put a little thought into your comments there chum.
Poor kid at school?… What’s so bad about that? Children in school are usually not old enough to pay for their own clothing, unless they are over the age of 15 or 16… Nevermind looking like a poor kid at school, that’s a completely different subject. Christ sakes, if you have an iPod Touch, that alone takes away from you being the “poor kid at school”.
Oh, and lazy people like me? You’re honestly hurting my cranium, man! Stop it.. Please! “Lazy?” You’re insane! I’m no where NEAR lazy. And you’re misunderstanding the whole point – by a LONG shot. Had you ever taken a second to think that I don’t have a jailbroken iPhone with Appshare + Installous simply because I don’t want to steal?… On second thought, I don’t even know why I’m explaining myself. I already mentioned all of this crap in the main story itself. Read and learn dude… Read and learn.
And I never said I didn’t like free things. Christ, I love free things, but if I don’t have a right to the “free thing” in question, I feel better inside knowing that it is better left alone to whomever it belongs to.
Got it?… Got milk, even?…
I’m tired.
October 20th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
apple should just make a software update bricking all the iphone with cracked apps
October 22nd, 2008 at 10:23 pm
oh boo hoo.
October 23rd, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Grow up.
October 24th, 2008 at 11:55 am
Apple must allow all apps for trial of 90days. I am sure the true useful apps by the user will buy if he really liked it and used it. If you ask most iPhone regret most of the Apps they purchased as it didn’t like it. Apple will never do this trial option as they know very few will buy it.
October 24th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
JAILBREAK YOUR IPHONE IS FOR THE WIN
YOU HEAR THAT FOR THE WIN
GET FREE JUCK! WHILE ALL YOU SUCKAS HAVE TO PAY! HAHAHAHAHAH
NUBS- EPIC FAIL
October 24th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
David,
Why 90 days?… I say Apple should allow for all paid apps to be available for 24 hours, then payment must be sent to play any further.
90 days?… That’s incredible… Never.
October 25th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
AppShare is down >>>LOL…!!!
October 25th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
I love the way you talk… So rightous?.. Are you a english teacher? Uhm get out of the 1940’s and start living in the “hear and now” computer talk.
October 31st, 2008 at 9:33 am
Thank you for a very informative post…
If it was not for you i would never have found 2 of the best apps i have come across ie. appshare and installous…
i purchased my iphone in south africa(where i live btw), with hopes and dreams of having access to some really cool games and apps that i would have more than happily purchased, but what did we get, a 2 bit watered down excuse for an ‘appstore’… it doesnt even have a games section!
So yes i do download cracked games and applications…and no i do not feel a single bit guilty. as far as i am concerned that is an issue Apple and the developers should sort out… people that think Appshare + Installous = THEFT should mind their own business, because its not always black and white…
November 1st, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Go suck a [Lemur], this is the 21st century, what’s a [burgundy] goody-two-shoe like you doing in a decade like this? go screw your mom
November 3rd, 2008 at 12:34 am
@ParanoidAndroid – They don’t have a games section in the South African App Store? Now that’s just weird. Are there strict laws on games there or something?
@Idiot Above This Post – Ahhh, I get it. So year over year society is supposed to become more and more disinterested in the law and ultimately head toward a state of complete anarchy, is that it?
Moron.
November 3rd, 2008 at 2:34 am
@ Eric March – Heavy Game laws? no, not that im aware off, to top it all apps like mr bubble(a level) are featured in the top app list…
November 5th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Buck AppShare is not down.
Jody, as much as you like to point out other people’s grammatical errors I didn’t expect you to make any but i guess you are human too and typos do happen to you to as it did in this statement made by you: “Noyon,
Apple doesn’t our you anything. If you don’t like what the iPhone has to offer, go with something else. I figured that was obvious enough…”
Appstore Apps reviews never really tells you what you want to know as 50 reviewers may say “this is the best app ever” and 30 might says “app is crap” and 20 might say “app doesn’t work at all”, if you are not testing it on your own device how can you know what the results will be for you?
Developers can ensure that apps do not get cracked or whatever, 2 examples of this are SWIRLYMMS & SpoofApp. They took the time it appears, and the necessary steps to ENSURE that these apps will not be pirated.
You all have your opinions and this is Jody & Eric’s site so they can post anything they want to post and we are free to disagree.
November 5th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Or has not been pirated for now I should say. I know they are not in the Appstore but they are doing great none the less.
November 6th, 2008 at 2:46 am
In all fairness, I do believe the creators of the AppShare App released it with a “Try Before You Buy” mentality.
There are numerous instances of complaints regarding Apple’s quality control in regard to what makes it to the AppStore. Those who would pay for an App, only to find it bugged or broken or not what it seemed have no recourse whatsoever.
I am currently working on developing an iPhone App so I can see how this can be a complete disservice to the developers, then again maybe it levels the playing field so that consumers don’t feel shafted.
Regardless, all forms of media will find themselves on the net, freely distributed. Their only support will derive from those who are truly committed to donate or purchase an app they enjoyed and in turn help further development and put a warm meal in the developer’s stomach.
November 6th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
On the Fench,
Thanks for pointing out my mistake. Yes, I am only human, and do tend to make mistakes as well. Glad to see there are readers out there willing to help me out as well.
Also, usually an app review would at least let you know if the app in question has few minor or major bugs, and/or just completely sucks, or is rock solid. If a review isn’t enough, have a look at some photos and/or videos via YouTube and the likes.
If that isn’t enough, well, you’re just being greedy. In the world of videogames, it was never the “norm” to try before you buy. PC gaming did begin to bring out demo’s, but this didn’t really stick around much, as far as I’m concerned? Console gaming is another example. Not all games on the 360 and/or PS3 allow for you to give the game in question a trial attempt before purchasing. Not a whole lot of games allow for that, actually.
And yes, you’re right – We all have our own opinions, and I will gladly be sticking to mine.
meebz,
If that was what their intention was, then so be it. I hadn’t known so, and do apologize for thinking otherwise. It’s unfortunate that so many people out there are taking AppShare for what it was, and turning it into something otherwise.
And yes, all forms of media/software will find their way to the internet one way or another, and there is nothing we can do to stop it. I was simply sharing the word with my readers as to what is happening with AppShare + Installous. After all, this is an iPhone/iPod Touch related blog, am I right?
November 11th, 2008 at 1:03 am
Jody,
While I agree with you on almost all of the arguments you’ve made throughout this thread, I couldn’t help but notice you commenting on the spelling and grammar of others. I’m all for grammar and spelling myself, but c’mon, Ryuk was simply noting a few things, and you took huge defense against him and comment on his spelling? It’s quite possible English isn’t even his first language… so commenting on his spelling and grammar is a little childish IMO. Also, I noticed you commented on someone’s use of commas and told them to ‘read up’ on the use of commas. Honestly bud, if you’re going to express and opinion and intend to share it kindly with others, it just seems a little lame to comment on someone’s spelling and / or grammar.
Kind regards,
-Tim
November 15th, 2008 at 7:26 am
Well. This is certainly going downhill.
In all honesty, piracy is a selfish act. And armchair philosophers aren’t going to change that, because you have to change the hearts and minds of all the people so as to make them want to pay for things.
Just because something is morally wrong, doesn’t mean that people won’t do it. Of course not. That’s why we have policemen.
Given a choice between two identical products, one that is free and one that is not, of course I’m going to choose the free one. Only when the convenience of a paid app outweighs the price of a free app will I begin to consider paying for them. That, or when I make enough money to consider buying them straight up.
Let’s look at an example. Jaadu VNC. I’m enough of a geek to want to use something like this, and the times that I have used it have been unparalleled. There is nothing out there like it for the iPhone. But it’s $25 dollars. Twenty five dollars! Far cheaper to download a cracked app, and then replace that app whenever a new version comes out and is cracked.
I don’t think anyone is going to convince the others of the rightness or superiority of their side. The fact that this discussion has gotten to the point of people sniping about grammar proves that.
So we will simply have to see where the future leads – if Apple will brick iPhones that use cracked apps, or not.
PS. SwirlyMMS has been cracked, for the record.
Cheers.
November 26th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
wow…thanks for teh post.
Before i didnt know i could get free apps..
thanks for letting me know the progs..and the so call thing “Jailbreak”
xD great. now i can get free apps.!
November 26th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Hey, well there you go soldier. Have a good life with your new findings.
November 27th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
WOW what pussies….. Not jailbreaking…. not to mention complete douches for not taking something so great like cracked apps. All i have to say is you guys should make a christain blog on how to be more like God
December 1st, 2008 at 2:04 am
So glad to know there are so many people who think that the months of hard work and effort put in by developers to make good games and apps is worth nothing. It just makes me appreciate those who do give a damn that much more. (Yes, I have been a programmer, and yes, I have had my work pirated, so it just lets me know that those who paid are good folk and those who ripped it off are just cheap morons.)
Nice try with the religious dig though. I’m a confirmed atheist, so you just sound ridiculous to me.
December 4th, 2008 at 10:50 am
Lol, sorry it’s to funny but haklab who poses here as anti piracy site just doing so since they been shut down for piracy themself. Epic fail.
http://209.85.129.132/search?q=cache:8q2klqXoT_oJ:blog.techquilla.com/2008/07/31/iphone-app-crack-site-haklab-shut-down/+haklab+crack&hl=de&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=de&client=firefox-a
December 4th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
hahah guess wahatt. i installed both apps. and i have over $100 dollars in freee apps. you guys are really gay. its free and if apple realyl cared they would come up with an update to fix it. o and my iphone is jailbroken aswell
December 5th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Tyler and John, get over yourselves.
Why even post if it’s just to make yourselves look like morons?
Why don’t you two go have some fun with Appshare and Installous.
I don’t give a rats ass about your bragging rights.
December 6th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
I download apps from AppShare and Installous. Not because I don’t want to pay, but because the fecking AppStore tells me that AppStore is not available in my country (Ireland?????)
December 6th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
I’m in Ireland and appstore works for me??
~Jonathan
December 8th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Piracy != Theft.
Please, please, please let’s get that right.
Other points that many (most?) of the folks above seem to be missing:
1) You can’t stop piracy. Period. As long as you charge for a piece of software, someone will find a way to use it for free. The desire to obtain something for free is a _very_ powerful motivation.
2) DRM doesn’t work. The reason Apple hasn’t come up with a way to completely stop unauthorized duplication is not that they don’t care about it, it’s because it’s a fundamental impossibility. DRM involves giving someone both the lock and the key and trusting that they’ll only use the combination of the two when authorized to do so.
3) Reporting sites that recommend/link to pirated apps won’t do dick. Sorry. Piracy-related sites will continue to spring up faster than you can report them. See #1
4) (To reiterate) Piracy is not theft. Piracy is copyright infringement and (often) a violation of the DMCA. The DMCA is an astoundingly poorly-written piece of legislation, and I support the rampant violation of it. If you buy a piece of software, you should be able to disassemble, modify, and discuss said modification to your hearts content. Copyright infringement is another matter — while it is illegal, it most decidedly is not the same thing as theft.
5) It is not illegal to possess copies of AppShare and/or Installous. It may be illegal to use them, depending what software you download/install, but simply having the apps is not illegal.
December 8th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
Downloading cracked apps doesn’t necessarily “hurt” (if I may say that) developers.
Many people have stopped buying applications by independent developers solely out of fear of wasting their money yet again. Even programs that are great are being undersold and pointedly hindered by Apple’s allowance of programs like “I Am Rich” and the seventh Sudoku game submitted by a 14-year-old writing his first program. Developers are being hurt by the company they provide their content to.
Unlimited trials are easy to abuse, and there is no denying this fact. However, there is an impressive number of people in the community who do honestly pay developers for software they enjoy after trying it. Having the opportunity to review the sales statistics of a well-reviewed, independently-developed game, the developer experienced a great number of installations by people using the unlimited trial — but over 99% of these installs were by people who statistically would not have purchased it regardless. A single digit of sales were lost to others who may have purchased the game, and with the trial resulting in purchases that would have otherwise not been made, the end result is strikingly positive.
Appshare and Installous are not illegal. They are merely a collection of user-submitted links, and they take no responsibility for what users submit to those apps or use them for. They do not host any illegal files, does not submit any of the content. Responsibility of users’ actions regarding Appshare and Installous or the links submitted to it falls solely with us, the users.
I hope this opinion and these facts will make PEOPLE understand.
Jon.
December 9th, 2008 at 2:29 am
Jody or Eric,
Did you delete my last post?
December 9th, 2008 at 11:15 am
No, we just never got around to approving it. Sorry.
Thanks for your input though.
December 16th, 2008 at 1:20 am
This sites shit, and so is Jodys ignorant argument. Sure all the big companies are losing money on sites like appulo.us but if thats your argument my argument is look at all the independent developers that have been exploited by apple. All apps must be sold through the app store allowing Apple to get a nice fat cut of everything.
December 16th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
it’s not theft, it’s copyright infringement, dumbass
December 19th, 2008 at 1:18 am
i dont have a problem with people that are upset about theft, but i get so angry when they influence others. Just because you dont approve dont ruin it for the rest of us by alerting someone that can shut them down. Plus if you did get these apps you’d know that the creator did not crack these apps, but his app just gives you a link to someones rapidshare account that has the app. so he cant be blamed
December 23rd, 2008 at 5:22 am
Your not gonna stop people from doing what they want to do why even try? WAREZ WILL ALWAYS BE AROUND hackers will always hack and people will always download
December 27th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
I love installous it opend new gates to me when I found it.
I realy like to download expensive IPA’s for free.
I love it you people.
January 3rd, 2009 at 7:16 am
U sound so fucking american dude… Just repeat after me: Copying is NOT stealing! Copying is NOT stealing! Copying is NOT stealing!
NO! It’s not! No, I don’t have a credit card and wouldnt have bought it anyway, so my only chance is to copy it. NO, im NOT stealing your revenue. So shut up and get a life you fucking priest.
January 3rd, 2009 at 7:26 am
Uhm American meaning you sound like a sheep… baeeeeeehhhh
January 4th, 2009 at 6:26 am
BULLSHIT !!!
I paid 540$ for my iPhone 3G and I’m going to do what ever I want with it. It’s enought that I paid that much money for it. Of course I’m going to download through Appshare, it’s AWESOME !!!
January 6th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Why pay for something when you can get it for free?
January 6th, 2009 at 11:22 pm
Good to know that ignorance is still alive and very healthy among the young.
Someday — probably a few years after strange hairs start growing out of places they didn’t before — you’ll look back and shake your head in disbelief that you were ever that naive. And then maybe you’ll even have sex! Possibly with a human!
January 7th, 2009 at 2:27 am
You whole lot are incredible.
January 7th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
in many cases, people are using this to install software that has been disallowed… like PANDORA.
It isn’t theft.
January 7th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
If this is still a problem long after Apple is obviously aware of the flaws, then this is Apple’s fault. Do you still trust them to store your credit card information in the iTunes store if this guy can get around all that?
January 8th, 2009 at 8:11 am
I lock my door to prevent people gaining access to my place. Does that mean if they break in and steal stuff that isn’t theft, either?
And blaming Apple? That’s even more ridiculous. If someone breaks into your house does that mean it’s your fault because you were aware that your door couldn’t withstand the use of various tools to break through it?
Come on. Let’s have some legitimate arguments that actually make sense here…
January 8th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Hey Eric, I’ll be over Jan 21st to take your computer monitor, and television.
Cool?
Oh, and don’t blame me, dude. Blame whoever constructed your place of residence.
…
Ugh. Are you kidding me?… Dear heavens.
January 8th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Jody and Eric March,
With all due respect,
U guys can shut up now cause App Share and Installous have been closed down last tine i checked and that was yesterday.
And STOP CORRECTING PEOPLE AND TAKING THINGS SO SERIOUSLY!
I sincerely hope they will find a way to get cracked apps back.
January 8th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
Well that’s great.
January 16th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
honestly, you folks running this anti-(whatever/who cares) site are a bunch of tards.. I paid my $300 for my iphone and that makes it MINE, free to do what i want with it and if i CHOOSE not to conform to the monopoly that is apple and PAY nickle and dimes to add more apps than thats MY choice and the choice of others. The reality IS, is that most of the sh*t in the app store is for entertainment purposes and i’ve yet to stumble accross something that really makes me say “wow, this would benifit my life having it on my phone”. Just a bunch of crap that i can show my friends and say, “can your phone do this?”
Granted, there are SOME things in the app store that have obviously taken the developers alot of time to construct and they should be intitled to make a profit off there hard work. But unfortunately, you cant filter out the good stuff from the caca and TBH, there were some apps that i downloaded that were SO crappy I just deleted them after the first 5 minutes, asking myself why would ANYONE want to pay even .99 cents for THIS?
Thats where hackers come in.. And i honestly think they are doing us a favor by making it possible to download apps rather than paying a fee for them, not knowing WHAT your gonna get. And you can call them thieves, pirates (ARR matey!), or whatever, but the truth IS, is that it goes BOTH ways. There are some developers out there that submit crappy apps, slap a screen shot of the title screen in the preview and even go as far as generating bogus reviews all to make a buck.. Doesnt THIS make THEM thieves as well??
You by the book morons are stuck in the 50’s.. this is 2009 and unfortunatly, as sad as it is, the world now days is a shitty place and not alot of people have morals anymore. If you vigilantes think you will take down every site that offers cracked apps, your fighting for a lost cause, cuz (yea, go ahead and point out my grammer you idiots) for every site you manage to shut down someone else will start a new one. It’s just not gonna go away. But i think its prescious that you have a little website to voice your opinions and call us names and theres no harm in having an opinion. So I gave you mine.. Sure it sucks for the developers, but hey, i got a bunch of cool sh*t on my phone now that i didnt have to pay for thats really no good for anything other than being a prick and showing off what MY iphone can do that YOURS cant because your such a lame, tight assed, by-the-book square, goody goody. Go ahead and PAY for your apps losers and give your $$ to the billion dollar money making Apple machine. I’m sure they are all sitting in a board room somewhere telling each other how lucky they are that there are still morons out there that will PAY to get something they could easily get for free somewhere else.
Now lets see how long it takes you guys to gang up and break down every paragraph i wrote and bash me and insult my intelligence. I can just picture you nerds sitting in front of your monitor going over in your head the perfect retaliation to burn me with.. Whatever.. In my book, your still tards..
Have a nice day!
January 17th, 2009 at 1:58 am
I see my opinion on this topic was removed.. I must have hurt the feelings of the two weenies calling everybody thieves.. You two are pathetic.. You love to dish it out but cant take a good dose of critisism against your cause. Go grab yourselves a diet dr pepper and get a room together..
January 17th, 2009 at 3:17 am
Insomnia, you’re kidding, right? How about you relax a little bit. I’ll bet you felt retarded when you noticed that your second comment didn’t appear right after you posted it either, huh?
Any respect I had left for you after your first comment, where all lost after I read that second thing you wrote up.
Another thing.. Eric and I aren’t running an anti-anything website. I’m sure you would of known that if you paid any attention to what you were reading.
Oh, and by the way… If I were to correct you on your spelling and grammar, I’d be fixing up way more than your childish way of writing the word “because”. The one that was running such a website went by the name of HackLab.
January 17th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
I have an iPod Touch 2G that is, of course, not jailbroken. With redsn0w coming out in a few days I’m considering it though, especially for the apps. I’d like to download the games that I’m interested in to see if I like them enough to purchase them from the App Store.
January 19th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
“Insomnia, you’re kidding, right? How about you relax a little bit. I’ll bet you felt retarded when you noticed that your second comment didn’t appear right after you posted it either, huh?”
Yea, that was my bad.. i Kinda opened the door for that one.. 10pts for the good guys.
“Another thing.. Eric and I aren’t running an anti-anything website. I’m sure you would of known that if you paid any attention to what you were reading”
In all honesty, i read your article and some of the posts from others and your quick witted replys, always seeming to point out grammer mistakes and what not and it began to annoy me. You can bash me if you want, but i DID make some good points, especially about how some developers cheat the public wih intentions of just making a quick buck.. Just want to bring to your attention that this ISNT a one sided argument in terms of people doing other people wrong..
I guess i was just having a bad day that day. I respect you guys and your opinions. everyone has a a conscience and judgement as to whats right or wrong. I myself take advantage of getting my apps for free, but on the same note, i dont spend alot of time downloading everything i see, just beacuase i can.. Im not a selfish man. And i dont think I am a thief for doing that. Screw apple and the way they try and stop us from taking full advantage of a product we purchased and continue to pay for to use/own.. The very idea that they come up with ways to UN jailbreak our phones with each update just goes to show what sort of a monopoly they are trying to force on us by controlling WHAT and HOW we use our devices.. The way they put so many restrictions on how we can use our devices is reason enough for ME at least to want to rebel.. More frustrating is how 3rd party apps like cydia and installer offer us so many possibilities to personalize our devices with themes and apps that are FREE to begin with and Apple STILL wants to put a stop to this, not even providing us with a way to have a custom wallpaper to use behind our icons at the very LEAST..
January 19th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
sorry, i guess i kinda strayed away from the topic, but i guess I’m trying to give a little insight as to why I choose to download my apps rather than pay for them. Is it wrong?? Probably.. Do i feel guilty for doing it? No.. I pay over a grand to own my iphone for a year and considering the $$ i shell out to use it, i think apple owes me a little something in return.
FYI guys, the folks running appshare and installus also take donations from users. Some of the monies go towards purchasing new apps from the appstore to add to add them to appshare, so ultimately SOMEone pays the developer at SOME point for the app. I for one would rather make donations to the developers of appshare and installus to keep them up and running. This way i could browse whats available, try it out and make sure its not something i would waste my $$ on. Cuz now days i got better things to spend my .99 cents on.. like a famous star from carls jr.. now i’d gladly buy that for a dollar..
January 26th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Let me tell you something. The countless hours spent by these programmers designing all these pretty little apps are well paid for by their employers. Don’t get to thinking you’re stealing these apps by downloading them instead of paying for them. I am certain the programmers are more than happy to see millions of users all around the world using their applications, regardless of whether or not they paid for them. These programmers you speak of do not get any sort of monetary compensation based on the number of copies that have been sold. Once an app is completed, the game continues and they move on to creating another one; their hard work is well paid for. Besides, these things happen day in and day out: movies, songs, games, software, everything is being downloaded nowadays. If those who worked on all these computer-based technologies were being punked, thieved, scammed, or simply not being paid enough, they would not be doing what they do. Bottom line is, this isn’t theft; you can’t steal something that has unlimited resources, or something that can be duplicated with a click of a button; theft occurs when there is a physical loss, and in this case, there isn’t one.
Cheers and… try to focus your attention and energy towards the real, tangible things in life.
January 26th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
dear jody and eric,
ok, guys. let’s put this little war-blogged-issue in order.
cracking apps cannot be illegal for a single reason: it’s illegal under which jurisdiction?
there’s not a global law agreement about copyright infringement or about anything at all. internet is not part of a country or a nation or an state or a crappy piece of land.
those quick patched rules that the governments of the world make about the internet are all created under an “ideal environment”, based on what they think things should be.
if there were a single agreement between all countries in the world, i would consider that a faultless victory and kill myself to reach nirvana.
internet is more like an anarchist state. you do what you like to do. and if you like to crack apps (it requires effort and hard work, by the way), then you do so. you cannot stop it just by writing a moral blog against functionality. if installous goes down because of the eternal capitalist war against freedom, then another one will come to save the ones that still believe in honesty without money.
i strongly refuse to give my money to a corporation that keeps growing rich with people’s naivete like a fat pig.
had you ever think of what would happen if everybody crack apps? easy! nobody will charge for them anymore! does that mean the end of software? not at all. there’s a penguin still living out there with the hope of all humankind proving it.
February 1st, 2009 at 12:56 pm
You people are fuking retards if u dont support appshare then dont use it
stfu about it being stolen and bullshit like that all of that dont support them are fuking pussies tht sit behind the computer and talk shit you fuking cocksuckers!!!!!!
February 2nd, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Ah, the age old argument of “electronic theft”. Never gets old.
Listen people, and this is to both sides:
As long as there is an internet, or any form of connecting to other people over a computer, there will ALWAYS (and I cannot stress this enough) ALLLLWAAAAYYYSSS be a way to download or upload property that isn’t free or exactly legal.
Complaining about it and calling it evil, etc etc, will do nothing but make you look like a whiny little douche. And that’s probably the nicest way to put it.
Take HakLabs for example, or whatever his name is. He has taken a personal vendetta against cracked apps for quite some time now, but has it changed a single thing? No. Just as you can download movies, music, porn, applications, games, and EVERYTHING ELSE on the internet, there will always be a way to download cracked AppStore apps.
I mean, really, if electronic intellectual property is so important to you, why not defend the other endless media outlets that are being raided by pirating right now?
I just find it absolutely ridiculous to sit here and whine about it on a blog, so other whiners can complain about what a travesty it is to the developers. If said devs are worth their salt in any form, they will KNOW that their applications WILL get cracked one way or another.
Fact of life on the internet right there.
Anyways, that’s my two cents, and I hope it puts it into perspective for you all.
Cheers!
February 2nd, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Oi. Okay, at random:
@Flawless: Anger issues. You have them.
@Hiruc: International copyright laws. Google them. Then feel the burn in your cheeks emanating from your epic fail.
@Andre: Worst. strawman. ever. The majority of developers releasing stuff on the app store? They’re independents working in their spare time from home, sometimes with a shoestring budget. The ratio of big developers to little independent developers is massively skewed toward the indies. Take it from someone who is in contact with a lot of them, big and small.
@Insomnia: Piracy has become the very reason Apple have been working harder to shut down jailbreaking. It’s the biggest (and frankly only) threat to the platform that comes directly from jailbreaking. That’s not to say that jailbreaking = piracy, but in Apple’s eyes, that’s the only equation that matters. It is a bitter irony that the pirates who have taken advantage of jailbreaking to bring piracy to the iPhone platform are the very ones who are destroying the jailbreak scene. And you know what? That is the biggest thing that pisses me off. I love and support the jailbreak scene, because it is not, in and of itself, about piracy at all. But because the pirates have made that the biggest visible “benefit” of jailbreaking, the existence of the jailbreak scene is heavily threatened. Apple didn’t really care before; they didn’t actively shut down jailbreaking, it’s just that updates happened to change things such that a new jailbreak had to be written. Apple is now actively trying to close those doors because of piracy.
Oh, and the idea that what you paid for your device entitles you to anything beyond the device itself and what arrived in its firmware is absurd. I bought a TV and rent a digital box. Does that mean I should get all of the premium content for free because I spend a lot of money on it? And don’t tell me it’s Apples and oranges here. These are directly analogous.
@El Lance-O: You, at least, are right — to a degree. Any developer should expect that their software will be pirated. That is a fact of life. I’ve had my own software pirated. I knew it would be. In a strange way I would have been disappointed if it wasn’t. That doesn’t mean I have to like it. Granted, the vast majority of those who pirate are those who would never have bought what they pirated had they no other alternative. They can’t be counted as lost sales because they never had the potential to be sales in the first place. I’m smart enough to take a pragmatic view on this issue. But that doesn’t mean it could be condoned, nor does it mean one who is opposed should stop fighting it.
It isn’t just — or even significantly — about the money. Like I said, most of them aren’t lost sales; this is just a dumb argument industry reps trot out when they want to spread some FUD about the “crushing impact” of piracy on their business — usually accompanied by ridiculous numbers pull from deep within their collective bowels. This is about ethics. It’s about at least making the effort to stop those who are not entitled to your own hard work from obtaining it illegitemately. I don’t want some greedy dick enjoying something I’ve written when they aren’t entitled to. I can’t enjoy a steak dinner unless I buy one. The only difference here is that some people seem to have developed this wacky idea that because software is online and is an inexhaustible commodity and can be obtained easily and virtually anonymously, that nobody is getting hurt, and that’s a bullshit self-justification that holds no merit whatsoever. If you think otherwise, feel free to prove it. Just be prepared to back it up with numbers, cites, and arguments from both sides of the table if you want to be taken seriously.
February 3rd, 2009 at 12:03 am
it does not matter for the most of the jailbreakers including me of course
, i´m downloading all classes of apps of the installous and about an hour ago i crack a new application and upload it to appulo.us, JAILBREAK IS FANTASTIC, INSTALLOUS IS WONDERFUL…….
February 8th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
While it is a blatant act of stealing in many cases, and it is wrong to do, it’s going to happen. PC, PSP, even consoles, these are all systems that are touched by pirating. There will always be pirating, the hackers will always be ahead of the large companies, that is how it works. The only way to console yourself is to know that it is a small minority of the community that takes part in these acts.
February 8th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
I THINK YOU ALL SHOULD LIGHTEN UP :p honestly its just a few people getiing apps for free theres no need to be so stuck up your own ass about it honestly what do you guys even care anyways
February 13th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
well im sorry to burst youre bubble but there is no way to stop hackers is a battle between apple and Dev team apple has tried to stop this thats the reason y they update but hackers always get around there programs and securities, this will never stop. they do the same to sony,xbox,nintendo all those expensive systems there is no stopping this.jail breaking is the shit while u guys pay we get it free wich is the smart way to go about it if u guys wanna keep wasting money on apps that half the time dont work even comming from apple thats on you. take simcity for example a 10 dollar app doesnt work it crashes on every 1 all the time guess what guys youre not getting your money back from apple u sit n wait for it to get there lol. its as simple as that jailbreaking rocks and will never stop
February 19th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Can’t we all just get along?
February 22nd, 2009 at 1:22 am
Bwahahahahaha, I read through about half of these posts (’cause I was curious what reactions Touch Podium would receive) and I must say, Eric, Jody, you guys are smart little cookies, but obviously haven’t dealt with enough ignorant little douches to realize that they are complete idiots. However, because I used crude diction, perhaps I’m an idiot as well? >.< Anyways, the only people you’re going to get through to are some of the logical, mentally stable ipod touch/iPhone users out there.
I for one, am not happy with the way Apple has begun to view themselves as a near monopolistic company that caresses money out of millions of North Americans and Europeans. However, that is our OWN fault, for buying Apple products in the first place, (that may change once the open-source android and the phones that support them gain enough popularity and attention from developers). Despite this, if Apple DOES miraculously manage to stop Ipod Touch/iPhone jailbreaking, their sales will likely drop, even though they’ve made a decent profit off of them already (it’s pretty damn cheap to manufacture them, which made me feel slightly ripped off), and the Apple monopoly goes crashing down as an alternative is introduced (eg. android). Of course, this is simply speculation. There are plenty of idiots who will buy Apple products simply because of their name. However, I have much doubt that Apple will manage to “close all exits”, as there are SO many supporters of jailbreaking that, just like the PSP and the homebrew pandora’s battery evolution, they’ll manage to build their own door in.
I can understand your concern with Apple’s future actions towards jailbreaking regarding Installous and the entire piracy issue, but personally, it’s an unstoppable snowball. Apple cannot do much without looking like a monopolistic douche, and all people are corrupt to some extent. Heck, even I have downloaded my share of pirated apps, but that’s just because I didn’t like how Apple charged me for those applications that the Iphone had for free. That and the firmware update that buyers of the 2nd gen got for free, PLUS they got onboard speakers and volume buttons. Grrrr. Well aside from whining about little luxuries, I must admit that we all could be doing something much more productive, like researching ways to survive the current economic meltdown or finding ways to save our race from utter extinction or further war, but, alas, we’d prefer to remain short-sighted, greedy, cynical (well, at least I am), and pathetic little homo-sapians who in the end, truly do only use 10% of our brain’s capacity. The End.
Ciao
P.S. I’m 16 so do please forgive any grammatical errors or spelling mistakes, instead of pointing them out, for I really hope that any replies that I expect to receive will have more analytical depth than that.
February 22nd, 2009 at 8:57 am
all of you should just cool down, every programmer will expect their program to be pirated, if it doesn’t that shows that your program is a fail. There are a million anti piracy websites and i think everybody with half a brain knows that taking things for free that other people have to pay for is called STEALING and the basic theory is STEALING = ILLEGAL = JAIL. So if people are gonna steal things (or more specifically programs) they will take their own risk. I am not against Judy Mitoma, but i think everybody know that installous, appulous or crackulous is illegal, no matter how many times haklab shuts down cracked website or you creating post on touchpodium attacking installous etc. will not stop the modern day pirates.
February 22nd, 2009 at 3:41 pm
Let it be known that it has officially become “illegal” to jailbreak your iPhone and/or iPod Touch. Read the latest Touch Podium posting.
Thanks for all the comments guys. This story is four months old, and the comments are still rolling in. It’s incredible!
February 23rd, 2009 at 3:00 am
Fuck your life. Do something worth while, rather than getting a movement of fags.
Fuck you, and haklabs
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:55 pm
Thanks for this blog I didn’t know such a thing existed!!! I’m going to download Installous today and a bunch of applications that cost the most. Hahahha. Thanks again and bye bye.
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Might want to be careful… As of recently, jailbreaking your iPhone has become illegal, big guy.
February 23rd, 2009 at 8:31 pm
thanks for the warning, but that’s what Apple is claiming, and we all know they didn’t like jailbreaking in the first place and eventually would crack down on jailbreakers. Until some part of the government passes apple’s claim against jailbreakers (and im in canada by the way, but don’t be hatin’), most won’t care what they whine and complain about, ignorant as it may sound.
btw, that “big guy” comment emits mild contempt, please, im not trying to force my opinion down your throat, but discussion is generally what the comments section was made for, to some extent, no?
February 23rd, 2009 at 8:40 pm
oh whoopsies, how foolish of me, I sincerely apologize, I thought that was a reply to my post (well, it could be, but who knows). I would edit that last comment but alas it is lost in cyberspace.
February 25th, 2009 at 1:11 am
You guys are ignorant. if this is stealing, what the heck do you think youre doing when you download the emulators and all the games from nintendo, sega, and playstation. Did you pay for it? did you get the OK to download it? are you the owner of the game???no i dont think so. blah blah blah free apps blah blah blah these developers ripped off their customers. Jackin up the price then lowering the price a week later screwing their customers who supported them first so SCREW THEM. NO longer will any of us buy a damn app from these people who screwed us.
February 26th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Yea i hear that everyone is against cracking apps. and ok i can beleve you buy it from the app store.
But what i can’t beleve is that you all buy your music and films from itunes.
So don’t cry and cool down
February 27th, 2009 at 9:50 pm
Whiny whiny.
February 28th, 2009 at 7:22 am
so jailbreaking is illegal, according to apple … would that make everyone using an iphone on tmobile criminals?
that’s like declaring that it’s illegal to take my car to a auto shop, or work on it myself, instead of taking it to the dealer
sounds pretty ridiculous? that’s because it is
March 4th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
Wow yall are all retards! How would you like to create an app expecting to make money for your family but come to find out someone else decides they wanna give your shit away for free cause they think “Apple owes them something”. How would you like to work for free. Now this pointless ass argument is going to go no wear cause just like the old saying “kids will be kids”, Dumb asses will be dumb asses. But personally i see nothing wrong with jail breaking as ling as you are not pirating apps. And one more thing all these people getting there panties in a wad and bitching a moaning about how they should be able to steal apps(cause that is what it is) SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTHS! I say this because all and i mean all of your arguments are futile cause it is thievery and it is wrong. Now if you decide to take money out of the pockets of hard working people then you should go to your employer( granted that you are out from under mommy and daddies wing and out of high school and have REAL jobs) and ask for a pay cut cause you believe people can do what they want(like take your services for free). So i guess what i am trying to say is yes this is 2009 but that doesn’t mean we should go along with stealing just cause its easy and everyone else is doing it.Now don’t get all bent out of shape by this post cause im just sharing my opinion and i don’t give shit if you keep doing it or not cause you will all get what you deserve. K BYYYYE
March 9th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Just wanted to say a few random things:
1) This is your site, continue to say what you like and moderate anything said by others.
2) I do not agree with piracy, I do not even “try before I buy.” You want to know if something is good?? …go to Youtube to listen to a song, or watch a video on how something works. Go read forums about a product, read about the problems and advantages they entail. My point here, is that there is ALWAYS a legal solution, most just don’t want to work that hard to achieve them.
3) Just so you know, not everyone on the internet is a complete imbecile. You are just unfortunate that the most outspoken persons are the “young” those between the ages of (apparently) 2 and 25…it is also unfortunate that I fall into that very same age bracket, but am of course the minority on when it comes to morality.
4) Piracy, whether it be theft, copyright infringement, or whatever: it IS illegal. It is not *kinda* illegal or *less* legal, it is ILLEGAL. As Eric mentioned the legality of an act is yes or no, it is either illegal or legal, the “however” comes into play during sentencing. And a last tidbit, if you are caught violating any of the aforementioned laws, AND you have a prior record including ANY other crime, your punishment could be drastically higher.
Ignore my warning…I don’t care.
Call me what you want…I don’t care
I found this blog through a random Google search…I will probably never see any responses to my post
The whole point of my post is to show that not everyone commenting here is an ignorant, unlawful, criminal lacking in both empathy and guilt…
…for those who are curious, a severe lack in empathy and guilt are two of the three largest signs for psychopathy, with criminal activity, ignorance and unlawfulness not far behind.
/rant
March 12th, 2009 at 3:29 pm
@Eric March sales of the iphone itself increase because of jailbreak and piracy.
March 17th, 2009 at 1:30 am
@me (lol)
i think that is a good point, i do believe that it ia wrong to claim that editing YOUR PRODUCT is illegal. however this shows tht apple must be struggling to be anti-cracked apps specific, and instead of stopping that, stop the whole process. i for one think that all who claim downloading music, movies, apps etc isnt illegal is ignorant and stupid. if all people didn’t buy products and instead download via other methods, the producers wont have an incentive to work and then noone will have apps, illegally or legally. the thing is, downloading has just become a way of life and with no likely chance of prosecution its just the norm and noone thinks firther than “ooh i wont pay ill get it using limewire”
and those that say its ok because “apple has heaps of money” are stupid. what if the producer didn,t have money(and most app producers are average joes). does this mean we cant take his stuff now?
PS: sorry bout my bad spelling
March 23rd, 2009 at 9:56 pm
Have any of you geniuses ever thought about the music, games, computer software, and movies that are downloaded through numerous clients?
March 29th, 2009 at 12:37 am
who the hell is this mike guy?… he talks like a fuckin homo and he says he is 16
March 29th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
FREE APPS = better than paying
tbh, most of the apps ive downloaded illegally i wouldnt have bought anyway, i cba spending money on such trivialities
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:27 pm
@danny
good point lol
to whoever wrote this, get the sand out of your vagina, if you dont do it good for you, but why do you care if other people do it, it doesnt affect you in any way, so why do u feel the need to cry about it?
April 3rd, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Chris,
If I don’t kill your president, everything’s okay? If I don’t kill your mom, everything is fine and dandy? If I don’t steal your car, steal your computer, rob your house, everything’s a-ok? No. Just because it isn’t me that is doing the crime, doesn’t mean it’s totally alright.
I’m not worried about others doing it. I just don’t like the fact that people are doing this. All to their own, kid.
April 11th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
I’m not rich, i lost rivers of blood to get an iphone, now don’t judge me if i use installous…is it my fault if sony, nintendo and apple can’t forbide me to get free softwares? They are still fine, trust me…
Knowledge is a precious good but you cannot block people who want take advantage of it…evolution works this way…
April 20th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
apple can suck a big weiner, they shouldnt be so greedy and lock their stuff up so tight and charge outrageous prices for their products, they deserve to get all of their apps stolen and music stolen and everything else stolen. that not hipocracy, just justice.
April 20th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
i agree with Chris, you can put your unjailbroken, uninstallous installed i touch next to your tampon in your purse dude. apple deserves to go bankrupt for their greed
April 22nd, 2009 at 4:25 pm
you guys (the ones against unlocked iphones) are retards, hacked iphones are the sh**t, and all of you herbs, sitting wasting your lives on this website that i stumbled upon to enlighten you, should take off ur 2nd pair of eyes, stop being a geek, and enjoy free sh**t and stop complaining like a bunch of B***HES, no one’s taking YOUR money, so stop looking into other peoples pockets and making believe u actually care. Aww u guys are so cute, every one is against jailbreaking, I’m not, F**k that, i love my iphone working to it’s full capability. AS a matter of fact, this is a better advertisement for iphones and ipod touches, when my friends see what i can do with my unlocked iphone they are more convinced to get it, than when it was locked. Don’t you think that apple knows this is going on? Grow a pair of balls and enjoy the full capabilities of an electronic product THAT YOU PURCHASED, NOT F***IN STOLE.
May 5th, 2009 at 1:28 am
yo whoever wrote this is a biggest douche ever. I guess hes his next article is stealing songs on the internet is bad as well. how about movies haha. what a loser.
apple does not want to do anything u retart. that is why the iphone is so popular.
ppl get the iphone because the shit u can install on it for free. u dumfuk
May 5th, 2009 at 1:49 am
Alright, calm down everyone. This post is 7 months old. Go ahead and do whatever you please.
May 5th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
thank you very much, jodi.
even though i do not need your permission to do so, i agree with “doing whatever i please”.
i hope eric joins the movement too, hahaha.
May 5th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
plus…
i’m f*ing tired of getting emails of this thread.
May 8th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
Personally, I think the obvious solution is for apple to put installous in the app store.The app would have to be modified so that downloaded ipas could only last for a predecided period of time. Still apple could sell dozens more apps with a good universal try before you buy system.
May 11th, 2009 at 9:37 pm
look `people: i have bought, more than 200 apps from app store, wasted 600 usd, and there is none of those apps that are worth a dollar. the new NFS undercover¨with great graphics¨is a piece of shit.cydia is a way to get apps REJECTED from appstore, leaving u wit more choices, and i think that when u buy a 700 dollars machine, u could receive free apps for that.i am using installous and already cracked 1600 apps.i downloaded and restribut them to my friend, for free.fuck apple, fuck all of u.
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:27 pm
Hey thanks for telling me about this and i just got it on my ipod and got a bunch of apps for FREE!!!!
Thanx man!!!
May 25th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
you complete ass speaker
have you thinked about other countries besides us or uk that cant have accses to apps just cause apples says so…..
apple deserves to lose oney on the app store for its greedy
can you believe only 10% of profits goest to developers!!!!!!!
people who dont have the money or wouldn’t pay for apps on the first place
downloading cracked ipas doesnt count as stealing because in the end they would never had pay apps to apple in the first place so it doesnt change anything
you may argue its not fair for users who pay
so what is their choice
plus what i do and i think is the solution to the app store
is to download craked apps
and make donations of 10% or more worth the app to the developers
NOT TO FUCKING APPLE
May 26th, 2009 at 10:32 am
where is my post?
May 28th, 2009 at 12:07 am
Aren’t we all…
June 10th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
Do any of you consider jail breaking illegal?
June 12th, 2009 at 5:01 am
One word mates……….. All of y’all are NERDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
June 12th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
^ Lies.
June 12th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Steven, Apparently Apple considers it illegal… But I wouldn’t dare hound on anyone for jailbreaking their device. I personally don’t see a need.
June 12th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
first off “All of y’all are NERDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” is hardly one word mate, second “y’all” is the dialect of a fucking retard, and last you are a fucking retard who couldn’t think to change his name. “Your name here” I hope you’re never able to reproduce the results would be catastrophic.
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:17 pm
You people are all morons… piracy will never go away, it’s been here since the 80’s , and will be here ALWAYS. Hearing you speak os how some activities (i.e. getting “cracked” games and apps) is illegal and should be punished, and others such as jailbreaking, violating EULAs, and the lie is not, is a clear example of hypocritical people if I ever saw one… It only goes to show how retarded a site can be, and if one should be taken down, it would be this one… So try to cut it out with your “righteous” anr “moral” attitued, because you are niether…
July 10th, 2009 at 3:50 am
Is this little war still going on? Oh well… I guess im just a bad person for getting free apps
Too bad a bunch of e-warriors believe they can influence people’s opinions (both sides). Do any of you guys think you are actually accomplishing something?
July 10th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Cool, I didn’t know about this prog till now. Thanks
July 12th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
Okay honestly, I’m over all of these smart ass remarks, man. Comments for this story are now closed. God forbid.