New Government Rules make Jailbreaking Legal

[wraith808]

http://www.gottabemobile.com/2010/07/26/new-government-rules-make-jailbreaking-legal/

It's now legal to jailbreak your iPhone.  (Maybe a new term that doesn't imply criminality is needed?)

DVD security protections also took a hit, as the ruling covers breaking them to copy and embed short clips for non-commercial educational or critical purposes, if you are a student or reviewer. (How stringent this last bit will be will be interesting to see- as will the youtube effects of this)

Apparently the Library of Congress stepped in on this one... I didn't know about the three year exemption bit.

I wonder what Apple's response to this will be- and if it will apply to the iPad.

[via [url=http://themanwhonevermissed.blogspot.com/2010/07/copyright-changes.html]The Man Who Never Missed (had to credit for the picture )[/url]]

[wraith808]

Another article with some nice bullet points about things overlooked in the previous article.

http://www.tgdaily.com/mobility-features/50808-is-jailbreaking-your-iphone-legal

[f0dder]

A baby step in the right direction

[Renegade]

Now if we could only get a baby step in the right direction for patents... THAT would really shift the landscape.

[Deozaan]

So this applies only to iPhone? What about any other smartphone or other electronic devices?

[Eóin]

It applies to all 'wireless telephone handsets'. Apple are just the ones getting the bad press

[wraith808]

^ Well, you never hear that rooting your phone isn't legal, so they deserve it, IMO.

[Renegade]

It applies to all 'wireless telephone handsets'. Apple are just the ones getting the bad press

And deservedly so. They're the only ones that go very far out of their way to truly make life impossible for anyone that wants to do more, or wants a bit of freedom. Windows Mobile is infinitely more open than the iPhone. What does that say?

[Stoic Joker]

My god that picture is like a Xanthian peep Gourd ... So, what's all this about jailbait 's legal - She looks over 18?

[ljbirns]

My god that picture is like a Xanthian peep Gourd

You may want to know the purpose of the gourd. . . well . . . It is the place where our nightmares are formed.

That's a nightmare ????????  Dream a little dream for me.......

[Stoic Joker]

You may want to know the purpose of the gourd. . . well . . . It is the place where our nightmares are formed.

That's a nightmare ????????  Dream a little dream for me.......

ROFL - Touché ...I'd forgotten the gourd's purpose - But it has been almost 30 years since I read that series.

[rxantos]

One thing I would like is the ability to users to have their own encryption key on their devices, and disallow the seller to hold the key. Making it impossible to install anything without the user consent.

Think of it like this. If you own a house, you have the key and not whoever sold you the house. If you own a car, you have the key, the dealer does not have it. Then why when you buy a phone, the seller have the key and you not?

Another thing I would like to see (as phones are computers now) is the ability to choice an operating system to put on.

As for other companies doing the same. Is like defending a wife beater just because someone else also beats his wife.

.

[Renegade]

One thing I would like is the ability to users to have their own encryption key on their devices, and disallow the seller to hold the key. Making it impossible to install anything without the user consent.

Think of it like this. If you own a house, you have the key and not whoever sold you the house. If you own a car, you have the key, the dealer does not have it. Then why when you buy a phone, the seller have the key and you not?

Another thing I would like to see (as phones are computers now) is the ability to choice an operating system to put on.

As for other companies doing the same. Is like defending a wife beater just because someone else also beats his wife.

+1

Except for the part about choosing an OS. Yes and no there. When you create hardware, especially for mobile devices, you have to consider the OS that will be on there. Very often the OS is directly tied to the hardware. Now, this isn't 100% necessary, but it helps increase the user experience a LOT. Eventually mobile platforms may reach the level of Linux and Windows where you have options.

However, in principle, yeah! It would be very cool to say something like, "I want an iPhone, but I want Android on it."