U.S. Government to Explicitly Allow iPhone Jailbreaking

IamMetaldave

The Associated Press briefly reports that the U.S. government has defined new rules that will permit users to "jailbreak" their iPhone and skirt Apple's App Store ecosystem to add unapproved third-party applications.
Owners of the iPhone will be able to break electronic locks on their devices in order to download applications that have not been approved by Apple. The government is making that legal under new rules announced Monday.

The decision to allow the practice commonly known as "jailbreaking" is one of a handful of new exemptions from a federal law that prohibits the circumvention of technical measures that control access to copyrighted works.

While it is not uncommon for users to jailbreak their devices, the practice is officially unsanctioned by Apple. The company maintains a support document outlining some of the issues users of jailbroken iOS devices may experience while also disclosing that Apple reserves the right to deny service for any such device due to the "unauthorized modification" being a violation of the license agreement. Under the new federal policies, it would appear that Apple is no longer permitted to deny service for such reasons.

Update: The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has posted a press release announcing the government's policy changes that came at the request of the EFF and has posted the full document (PDF) issued by the Copyright Office of the U.S. Library of Congress.
On balance, the Register concludes that when one jailbreaks a smartphone in order to make the operating system on that phone interoperable with an independently created application that has not been approved by the maker of the smartphone or the maker of its operating system, the modifications that are made purely for the purpose of such interoperability are fair uses. Case law and Congressional enactments reflect a judgment that interoperability is favored. The Register also finds that designating a class of works that would permit jailbreaking for purposes of interoperability will not adversely affect the market for or value of the copyrighted works to the copyright owner.

Linkage.

120_Minutes

Is that us only though, mr dazzle?

mad muffin

Yay!:cool:

But I have decided I'm not going to bother jailbraking my iP4.:pac:

IamMetaldave

120_Minutes wrote: »

Is that us only though, mr dazzle?

Yes Sir it is. Hopefully everyone will pick it up though, not that it'll make any odds

mad muffin wrote: »

Yay!:cool:

But I have decided I'm not going to bother jailbraking my iP4.:pac:

I dunno how you decided that! I can't get over how much I miss the Jailbreak.. It's a different phone without it! It's still awesome, but missing a little something.

mad muffin

Dave Eyesclosed wrote: »

Yes Sir it is. Hopefully everyone will pick it up though, not that it'll make any odds



I dunno how you decided that! I can't get over how much I miss the Jailbreak.. It's a different phone without it! It's still awesome, but missing a little something.

It was too much of a PITA.

Waiting for the dev team to give us the go ahead to update.

A dev updates a cydia app only to break three others.

My phone is acting weird, is it the phone or some cydia app.

Kevo

You can apply the same logic to consoles. I wonder if it will apply to them in the future.

georgiemcgrane

Kevo wrote: »

You can apply the same logic to consoles. I wonder if it will apply to them in the future.

Its my experience that people tend to jailbreak their iPhones so they can get FREE pirated software (apps). unless your some kind of power user that enjoys they command line side of things - running pirated software is primary motivation. It was the same with people chipping / modding their consoles so they could run copied games. If they do allow a legal jailbreak you can expect the copyright cops to come crashing down on all those "free unsigned apps" shortly after.

mondeo

Never jail broke my iphone before because I did not want to void my warranty or whatever but I am thinking of doing it lately and see what it's all about...

georgiemcgrane

mondeo wrote: »

Never jail broke my iphone before because I did not want to void my warranty or whatever but I am thinking of doing it lately and see what it's all about...

its all about piracy !

Tom Dunne

georgiemcgrane wrote: »

its all about piracy !

It's not all about piracy.

A lot of people do it to for apps that are not available on the App Store. For me, a good example is Backgrounder.

jakdublin

georgiemcgrane wrote: »

Its my experience that people tend to jailbreak their iPhones so they can get FREE pirated software (apps). unless your some kind of power user that enjoys they command line side of things - running pirated software is primary motivation. It was the same with people chipping / modding their consoles so they could run copied games. If they do allow a legal jailbreak you can expect the copyright cops to come crashing down on all those "free unsigned apps" shortly after.

There's other reasons to jailbreak too. I use it to mirror my phone onto my TV for certain apps that Apple don't allow and to use my phone as a wi-fi hotspot on the odd occasion that I need it (not enough to justify a data plan).
I pay for my apps, even jailbroken ones, but yeah, most people do it to pirate free stuff.

IamMetaldave

I miss the SBSettings and dialers / lock screens etc..

daithimac

georgiemcgrane wrote: »

its all about piracy !

Says someone with no clue about that of which they speak.

It's about homebrew development which should be very close to steve jobs heart as thats where he and Woz got started.

Creamy Goodness

Dave Eyesclosed wrote: »

I miss the SBSettings

^^ this, and also a version of DessID that doesn't cost any money but isn't a pirated copy

georgiemcgrane

daithimac wrote: »

Says someone with no clue about that of which they speak.

It's about homebrew development which should be very close to steve jobs heart as thats where he and Woz got started.

Steve replies to the odd mail - why not ask him how he feels.?

I'm not going to try prove what I do or don't know, and sure perhaps the pioneers of jail breaking wanted to run home brew apps but ( and I'm speaking from some experience here ) from what I've seen jailbreakers want pirated software, isn't that what installious/cydia is for - finding FREE versions of paid apps.

If I'm wrong in ur opinion fine, this is what I've seen and experienced.

georgiemcgrane

Creamy Goodness wrote: »

^^ this, and also a version of DessID that doesn't cost any money but isn't a pirated copy

Perhaps it breaches some security policys that apple enforce regarding privacy & security etc... They are pretty strict, but its for the benefit and safety of users.

Tom Dunne

georgiemcgrane wrote: »

from what I've seen jailbreakers want pirated software, isn't that what installious/cydia is for - finding FREE versions of paid apps.

If I'm wrong in ur opinion fine, this is what I've seen and experienced.

Don't you have to jailbreak to unlock? Methinks the vast majority of jailbreaking is for this purpose, not for piracy.

At least that is my experience on this forum.

georgiemcgrane

Tom Dunne wrote: »

Don't you have to jailbreak to unlock? Methinks the vast majority of jailbreaking is for this purpose, not for piracy.

At least that is my experience on this forum.

Unlock as well - yea, I guess so. But ur just giving me some of the reasons why someone might jailbreak their phone, and the biggest driving force is free software - "Oh look I GOT Tom Tom for Free ! , just saved myself 50 or 60 euros by stealing it"

cornbb

I like the idea of jailbreaking in principle, it potentially allows enthusiasts to get a lot more out of their phone. I fear georgie is right though. As someone who made a living from writing apps for a short while, I find it a shame to see so much piracy going on. Most developers aren't going to make much money from selling apps, and most of them are dirt cheap anyway.

RobbieTheRobber

Tom Dunne wrote: »

It's not all about piracy.

A lot of people do it to for apps that are not available on the App Store. For me, a good example is Backgrounder.

For me backgrounder, sbsettings and because i give my phone number to women i never should iblacklist.

28064212

Isn't this pretty much a complete non-story? It's a tiny change in legislation to bring it up-to-date. Jail-breaking still voids your warranty, which is what would hold most people back. Has anyone ever been charged under the previous legislation for jail-breaking an iPhone? I doubt it

IamMetaldave

georgiemcgrane wrote: »

from what I've seen jailbreakers want pirated software, isn't that what installious/cydia is for - finding FREE versions of paid apps.

Cydia is not for pirated software, at all! It is for 3rd party apps and to give you access via these apps to your phone as is your right since most of us have paid an arm and a leg for, why should we not be able to have it as we want? If you try and add repositories that are known for piracy Cydia warns you and says how these are not recommended by the community etc and that they have copyrighted apps on them..

Also, there's a big difference between free versions of paid apps and cracked /hacked paid apps that are being distributed for free.

Notorious97

mondeo wrote: »

Never jail broke my iphone before because I did not want to void my warranty or whatever but I am thinking of doing it lately and see what it's all about...

Your warranty is fine, obviously if you send it back to Apple still jailbroken it is void, but a simple system restore on itunes deletes all trace of a jailbreak and your warranty is in good condition again. I really wouldnt worry about that. There is an Ipod Fans Forum website if you google it, they are really good at advice on JB etc.

I have a jailbreak but i don’t use it for piracy. I like that you can change everything on the appearance of the Itouch, its a shame apple just doesn’t let people do this. The creators of Cydia (jailbreak app store) repeatedly state they are against piracy, that site i mentioned to google is a huge community, and the developers of the jailbreaks are frequently there. The whole site is against piracy, so if you just want to JB like the majority of people who do for the sake of changing the themes / appearance and alot of other things on the ipod, then you should go for it.

georgiemcgrane

Dave Eyesclosed wrote: »

Cydia is not for pirated software, at all! It is for 3rd party apps and to give you access via these apps to your phone as is your right since most of us have paid an arm and a leg for, why should we not be able to have it as we want? If you try and add repositories that are known for piracy Cydia warns you and says how these are not recommended by the community etc and that they have copyrighted apps on them..

Also, there's a big difference between free versions of paid apps and cracked /hacked paid apps that are being distributed for free.

Slight mix up of words there maybe, when i said Free Version Of Paid Apps, I mean pirated version of apps you would have to pay for in the app store. And Im not trying to run down the community of developers who work incredibly hard for the benefit of being allowed run their own (homebrew)software on their own devices, Im talking about general Joe Public. Go look at the phones on adverts for sale, most of the iphones are listed as "Unlocked / Jailbroke - with cydia". I dont believe for a second that the people selling them are true Homebrew app developers looking to expand the functionality of their devices.

The people Ive met have had their phones Unlocked etc on camden st or any other dodgy phone shop and it has been for 2 reasons - 1 so they can put pay as you go sim into in and 2 - get free HACKED - PIRATED software. They posses little or no technical knowledge and they just want something for nothing. Thats all im saying. Im sure the vast majority of Jailbreakers here have pirated apps on their phone ? ? Of course you do - because its free and easy.