Anyone know anything about hacking an SK (Sky UM-7000 series) phone?
After a long search, I’ve discovered that:
- Like every other website in Korea, it requires a Korean national ID, and the foreigner IDs don’t work.
- The website could register me by some alternate means, but it’s a rigmarole involving me having a freaking “sponsor” — just so I can download software in order to access my own phone. She’s understandably leery about entering all her personal information into a site for this purpose, given how little respect is given the privacy of customers these days (especially here).
- The necessary software doesn’t seem available on CD-ROM — when I asked at the shop, a long time ago, the guy said I had to download it. (Of course, if someone has a driver handy, or would like to download it for me and give me a copy, I’d be much obliged.) I wonder if there’s more general, universal software for accessing a CDMA phone internally.
- I don’t know much about hacking phones, but I know it’s done out there. All I really want to do is put in my own music for ringtones, instead of having to either live with what’s on it, or pay money to get new ones. That’s pretty much all I’m after at this point.
If anyone has any information, I’d be much obliged. My own phone is a SKY IM-7300.
They shouldn’t still be pulling this sort of crap. The government reworked the alien registration number system to make it compatible with the Korean system, but non-essential services are slow to make whatever changes are necessary (I won’t pretend to understand how it works). In a word, we don’t have enough of a voice to make a difference yet.
Unfortunately, all I can do is commiserate and express my indignation. Wish I could be more help.
Charles,
Non-essential services don’t bother to make the changes because (a) realistically there’s little demand (I didn’t call SK and complain about it either), (b) there’s little incentive (pleasing one or two random foreigners is almost not worth the effort), (c) something nobody has time to do since everyone’s loaded with other stuff to fix.
But I’m kind of beyond feeling bad about it. It’s an idiotic system to begin with, this using one’s national ID to access things online. It’s approaching downright fascist, at that, if you think about it. Why should I have to be asked, “Die papieren!” at every website I visit? So I suppose even when it gets fixed all around, I’ll be uncomfortable with it.
I just want a workaround, since after all, even if I do get the software installed, it’s going to end up being pay-as-you-go downloads. I have tons of music here. I should be able to convert it to the right format and upload it myself, without some company cashing in on that. It’s not like I don’t buy enough CDs or something.
If I find anything cool online about cell phone hacking, I’ll let you know. :)
Yeah, I understand why they won’t make the changes. I don’t understand how the whole system works, though. That is, I don’t understand why, if the government supposedly changed the alien registration number system to be compatible with the Korean system, it still doesn’t work. I’m guessing that they are using an outdated algorithm, but you would think that if the gov’t was going to go through the trouble of changing the system, they would change it so it works with what is in place now, right? But I agree that the whole national ID system is bordering on the fascist.
Anyway, keep us posted. And good luck.
There are some sites that foreign id numbers work and that’s because they’ve downloaded a patch to the id database system that recognizes this. It’s up to the IT/web master to do that and if they don’t know about it they won’t do it. And even if they do know there really isn’t much incentive to do extra work for the limited number of foreigners who can navigate a Korean site.
Charles,
Well, the system of using national IDs to access websites is, anyway. You’d think the gates would be opening up, but they’re even more closed online than they are in the streets of Seoul, where an outsider can befriend a Korean and find out about stuff, get pointers to this or that resource, etc. It’s just ridiculous to have such a strict ID system online. Then again, with the amount of social damage that thoughtless, pack-minded netizens sometimes cause, I don’t see it going away anytime soon. *shrug*
And EFL Geek, you’re right about the patch. I’ve seen discussions about it before, and in fact a Korean friend explained it to me one night. (He’d just harangued a company into implementing the patch because his Canadian wife wanted access to some site under her own name.)
As far as I know, the first numeral in the second string of digits on a foreigner’s ID is the issue. One set of numbers are used for Koreans (male and female differentiated by number, and I’ll give you one guess as to which one has numerical primacy. Hint, my girlfriend’s starts with 2), and another set of (similarly hierarchized) numbers (I’ve heard, 5 and 6, which would make sense as my second string starts with a 5) for non-Korean regisitration IDs.
I’m not sure who gets 3 and 4. I’ve heard that foreigners of Korean ancestry do, if they apply for a visa on that basis, but I’m not sure.
Ah well. I just wanna hack my phone, maybe stick on a video game or two and add some ringtones. We’ll see if I can manage it alone.