The U.S. government today has announced some new rules that iPhone users may appreciate–it’s now legal to jailbreak your phone. That means iPhone apps that have been unauthorized by Apple can be legally run on the device. Another perk–a jailbroken cell phone is legal to use on multiple carriers.
The request for the DMCA to consider jailbreaking phones as legal was put in 19 months ago, by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. It was one of several considerations put before the DMCA regarding copyrighted material and other legalities surrounding electronic files, devices and access to them. And while Apple has maintained its stringent stance on jailbroken phones, it may not have any serious issues with the DMCA’s latest decision. From Wired,
Every three years, the Librarian of Congress and the Copyright Office entertain proposed exemptions to the DMCA, passed in 1998. The act forbids circumventing encryption technology to copy or modify copyrighted works. In this instance, Apple claimed the DMCA protects the encryption built into the bootloader that starts up the iPhone OS operating system.
From the looks of it, Apple can retain its high-horse position on jailbroken phones, but at least it’s not illegal. As jailbreaking has become commonplace for many iPhone owners, the decision by the DMCA merely validates an already pursued cause. Yet the whole thing also reminds us how much Apple would like to maintain dominance over its app marketplace. This is a potential weak spot for Apple, as Android legalities find more ways to accommodate its consumers.
Some other stuff you can now do legally:
-break technical protections on video games to seek or correct security flaws
-break copy-protected DVDs for educational purposes, critique, commentary and noncommercial
videos (professors, film students an documentary filmmakers)
-bypass external security devices that no longer work and cannot be replaced.
