Apple Says Jailbreaking your iPhone is Illegal – Continued.

As we reported back in February, Apple has taken the necessary steps to make jailbreaking your iPhone illegal in response to Electronic Frontier Foundation asking for a DMCA exemption for jailbreaking.  Last week the discussion’s continued as Apple’s head of marketing met with Electronic Frontier Foundation and various Copyright Office officials including record labels, movie studios, and the software industry.

Among the topics discussed were:

  • A DMCA exemption for cell phone “jailbreaking” — liberating iPhones and other handsets to run applications from sources other than those approved by the phone maker. More than a million iPhone owners have “jailbroken” their iPhones in order to use applications obtained from sources other than Apple’s own iTunes “App Store.” Apple has taken the position that any modification of an iPhone’s software to enable the use of applications from other sources violates the DMCA.
  • Renewal of the 2006 exemption for unlocking cell phones so that the handsets can be used with any telecommunications carrier. Several carriers have threatened cell phone unlockers with legal action under the DMCA, even though there is no copyright infringement involved in the unlocking. The digital locks on cell phones, however, make it harder to resell, reuse, or recycle the handset.

I understand why Apple opposes jailbreaking, they make a lot of money from the over 1 billion app sales.  However, I still think once I pay for something I should be able to do whatever I want with it.  I do not think we should pirate apps and rip off Apple or the developer’s who have worked very hard to bring us their creations and deserve to be paid for their efforts.  But, if a developer wants to offer us their creation through a method other than Apple, I say why not!!

I will continue to follow this story and keep you posted on any further updates.

For a full re-cap of what went on please see the full story at wired.com

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