jailbreaking is now officially legal

kblessinggr

kblessinggr

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Sep 15, 2008
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New Copyright Office ruling sanctions iPhone jailbreaking - Jul. 26, 2010

IPhone users can now legally hack their phones to download applications that aren't in Apple's App Store.

The U.S. Copyright Office, a division of the Library of Congress, has authorized several new exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), one of which will allow mobile phone users to "jailbreak" -- or hack into -- their devices to use apps not authorized by the phone's manufacturer. The new rules will be published on Tuesday in the Federal Register.

Jailbreaking iPhones in order to download apps that are unavailable in Apple's App Store had been a legal gray area: Apple technically had the right to request a $2,500 government fine for damages every time a user violated the law that bans "circumvention of technological measures" controlling access to copyrighted works -- in this case, the iPhone's iOS software.
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The Copyright Office's decision means that jailbreakers will not face legal sanctions, but phone makers are still free to fight back technologically against the practice. Apple typically voids the warranty on iPhones that owners have hacked. The company maintains that tampering with the iPhone can introduce bugs and glitches.
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This time around, the Copyright Office granted six exemptions. In addition jailbreaking provisions, it renewed an exemption allowing e-book copy controls to be circumvented to enable read-aloud functions or to render the text into a specialized format. That's a clause advocates for the blind fought for.
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Lobbying group Electronic Frontier Foundation, which requested and backed the jailbreaking and remixing exemptions, celebrated its victory on Monday.

"We are thrilled to have helped free jailbreakers, unlockers and vidders from this law's overbroad reach," Jennifer Granick, EFF's civil liberties director, said in a prepared statement. "The Copyright Office recognizes that the primary purpose of the locks on cell phones is to bind customers to their existing networks, rather than to protect copyright."
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Though this doesn't mean that patching the OS for the purpose of stealing paid application is legal. (I know its a duh for some people, but can't imagine how many people don't realize that).
 


kblessinggr said:
Probably means actual competition to jailbreaking and software modification to phones and other devices now that they don't have to worry bout that legal hurdle.
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Indeed, I'm sure we are to see actual commercially available for profit jailbreak software. That may mean you don't have to wait so long for jailbreaks to be released.
 
Rage9 said:
Your new avatar fucks with my head you know that kblessinggr?
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REALLY? Try a larger version of it...

nose.jpg
 
ImagesAndWords said:
Will be interesting to see how this will (and should) affect the game console mod scene. I just had my Xbox360 re-modded again legally here in Norway, but in the U.S. it has up until now been considered an illegal practice.
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Normally because modding is used to directly aid in pirating games. The only 'fair use' reason on a case-by-case basis you could get away with is being able to play backups of games you already own.
 
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