Will The New SHAtter Jailbreak Disallow Pirating Apps? Update: Nope

UPDATE: The Chronic Dev Team has just came to their senses and tweeted that although they would like to, they don't have the ability to block piracy on jailbroken iDevices. According to a recent post on Twitter by the Chronic Dev Team, makers of the infamous SHAtter exploit that will jailbreak all current iOS devices for life (Yes, even your precious Apple TV), the new exploit may disallow the ability to use Installous or similar applications to download cracked App Store apps (note, AppAdvice does not condone the use of such apps) . In my honest opinion, there are a few flaws with stating something like this. I don't believe in downloading cracked App Store apps because developers need food on their table too, but as MuscleNerd points out, when you jailbreak your iDevice, you allow unsigned code to execute on it (non geek explanation: You can run applications that aren't approved by Apple) , and unsigned code is very very powerful. Even if they blocked the repository Installous is in, nothing's stopping it to be moved to a different repository, and if they chose to block the name "Installous" in all Cydia apps, nothing's stopping developers from simply changing the name (Not to mention it would also block any apps that may be against piracy or telling people not to use Installous).

Trust me, if I could block Installous I would, but doing it may be more trouble than it's worth if your efforts can easily be foiled by a couple clever developers, as this Engadget editorial points out. Jailbreaking your iPhone can lead to many good things - Themes, tweaks, tethering, unlocking... But part of having a "Free" device (not "free beer" free, but "freedom", as in you can do whatever you want with it) is that you can do whatever takes your fancy on it, and that includes the use of frowned-upon applications that distribute illegal content. So what do you think? Will the Chronic Dev Team be successful in their attempt to block piracy? What would you do if you were the Chronic Dev Team? And more generally, what is your stance on this issue? We'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

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