The hacking of consumer electronics is an increasingly common practice which users perform in order to customize and modify their devices beyond what is typically possible. This activity has a long history, dating from the days of early computer, programming, and electronics hobbyists. The most notable case of the hacking of consumer electronics is jailbreaking of Apple iOS devices or the rooting of Android phones, although many other electronics such as video game consoles are regularly hacked.
Video Hacking of consumer electronics
Devices
Smartphone operating systems
- Firefox OS
- Windows Phone
- Apple iOS (jailbreaking)
- Google Android (rooting)
- Palm webOS (dev mode)
- Symbian OS (executing unsigned code)
Multimedia devices and video game systems
- Microsoft
- Xbox
- Xbox 360
- Nintendo
- Game Boy Advance
- Nintendo DS
- Nintendo 3DS
- Wii
- Wii homebrew
- Sony
- PlayStation Portable
- PlayStation 2
- PlayStation 3
- Others
- TiVo
- DVD player - to remove regional restrictions, user operation prohibition flag (fast forward disabled in advertising clip etc.) and Macrovision (video copy is flashing after copying to protect analog hole)
- Blu-ray players - to remove regional restrictions
- Any non-smart mobile phone. To remove operator lock or SIM lock restriction.
Other devices
- Graphing calculators
- Texas Instruments signing key controversy
- Video cards
- Routers
- DD-WRT
- Oscilloscopes
- Thermographic cameras
- GPS devices
- Canon Digital cameras
- Nikon Digital cameras .
Maps Hacking of consumer electronics
Devices allowing for hacking
Some devices--most commonly open source--are built for homebrew purposes, and encourage hacking as an integral part of their existence.
- Pandora (console)
- Chumby
- Ouya
- Nokia N900
- Android Dev Phone
- Nexus One
- Nexus S
- Galaxy Nexus, currently one of the phones recommended by the Android Open Source Project for software development
- ZTE Open
- Many wireless routers' firmware upgrade functions are not limited to accepting updates that have been signed by the device's manufacturer. As a result, open-source firmware replacements have been created for many devices, such as OpenWrt and DD-WRT.
Legality
iOS jailbreaking was often considered illegal in the United States until a recent ruling by the U.S. Copyright Office declaring that jailbreaking an iPhone or other mobile device would no longer violate copyright law. However, simultaneously, there is ongoing prosecution against hackers of videogame consoles under anti-circumvention violations of the DMCA. A main complication, in many cases, is the profiting from selling jailbroken or rooted equipment as a value-added service. At least some accused deny these charges and claim only to be making back-ups of legally purchased games.
Recently, the High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection encryption system, which encrypts data running between cable boxes, Blu-ray players, and other similar devices and displays was cracked, and a copy of the master key needed to decrypt HDCP protected streams was posted on the internet. Intel, which created and now licenses HDCP technology, has stated that HDCP protection is sufficient to keep most users from circumventing it, but indicated that it may threaten legal action against more determined users under the DMCA.
On the issue of the hacking of its new interactive game controller the Kinect, Microsoft initially condemned and threatened legal action against those who hacked it, but soon after it reversed this position and instead stated that it had intentionally left the device open, and would in fact not prosecute those who modified it.
See also
- iOS jailbreaking
- Rooting (Android OS)
- Symbian OS Security bypass
- Xbox modchips
- List of open source hardware projects
- PlayStation Jailbreak
- Privilege escalation
- Unsigned code
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
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