It"s no secret that Apple detests the jailbreaking community. They have claimed that jailbreakers violate their EULA and consequently, break the law. However, this has yet to be proven in court. Jailbreakers have enjoyed a long history of fighting Apple punch for punch. When programmers, such as the iPhone Dev Team, conquer a specific piece of Apple hardware or software, Apple retaliates with a hardware or software update to minimize available exploits, thereby sending developers back to the drawing board. It seems to be an endless game of cat and mouse.
According to a recent report from Redmond Pie, it looks like Apple may be taking a slightly more aggressive approach. If someone jailbreaks, they"ll just disable their Apple ID, essentially crippling them from enjoying the pleasures of the App Store. Sherif Hashim, a developer that found a baseband exploit in the latest version of the iPhone OS (3.1.3), recently got a message on his phone stating "This Apple ID has been disabled for security reasons." In addition, iH8sn0w, the hacker behind the PwnageTool alternative, Sn0wbreeze, also had his account disabled.
It doesn"t seem like Apple is targeting John Doe jailbreakers. The people mentioned above are pretty heavy hitters. However, that doesn"t mean Apple isn"t planning to make this a more widespread solution. Perhaps this is just a test phase. Sadly though, this will not stop people from jailbreaking. If anything, it could result in the exact opposite--more illegal app downloading. Should jailbreakers not be allowed to purchase anything from the App Store, it"s possible that they"d begin downloading illegal content (stuff they"d otherwise pay for) through various repositories in Cydia, Icy, or wherever. Either way, a punch has been thrown. The jailbreaking community is sure to issue a response.
Image courtesy of Redmond Pie.