Free iPhone: Support the iPhone Dev Team for a free software unlock

iPhone Unlock

Support the iPhone Dev Team for a free software unlock
News of the first, soon-to-be commercially available software unlock of the iPhone shook the tech world yesterday while the mainstream media struggled to keep up with the news half a day prior about the news of a hardware unlock. But not everyone was celebrating about the iphonesimfree.com announcement—the team behind the site has no plans to release its methods to the world because it plans to sell the service beginning next week.

This caused some gnashing of teeth among parts of the tech community for what they considered to be an overly capitalistic approach to what was previously an open effort. On a personal level, I don't blame the iphonesimfree folks for wanting to sell unlocking services—there are plenty of people on earth who would happily pay to have someone else perform a software unlock on their iPhones because they're not comfortable doing it themselves, lack the required knowledge, or are just plain lazy. But I do agree that it leaves a bad taste in the mouths of some—particularly the iPhone Dev Wiki team—who have put so much effort thus far into unlocking the iPhone, only to (undoubtedly) have their methods taken, improved upon, and then not released back into the community.

That's why we're happy to help our friends at Gizmodo spread the word about supporting the iPhone Dev team in achieving a "true, free" iPhone software unlock. Jesus' post outlines the many efforts of the iPhone Dev team, both in relation to unlocking and other developments, and calls for donations to be made so that the team can eventually release its own software unlock to the world. "That's the only way we are going to keep advancing iPhone software development to the point of perfection and, more importantly, the only way to set the iPhone free. For real and for everyone. No commercial interests involved."

Check out Gizmodo's post for the e-mail address to send PayPal funds to, if you want to support the effort. There is also a short FAQ and a guideline for what to say in your PayPal e-mail (hint: saying "hack" in the subject does not bode well with the PayPal folks). I already donated a small amount of my own, just because I like to see this kind of thing keep going.