Owners of iPhones and other smartphones are one step closer towards taking complete control of their gadgets, thanks to a new government ruling Monday on the practice of "jailbreaking."
This weekend has seen a flurry of activity about digital rights, but the biggest news dropped Monday morning, when the FCC announced that it had made the controversial practice of "jailbreaking" your iPhone -- or any other cell phone -- legal.
Jailbreaking -- the practice of unlocking a phone (and particularly an iPhone) so it can be used on another network and/or run other applications than those approved by Apple -- has technically been illegal for years. Most jailbroken phones are used on the U.S. T-Mobile network or on overseas carriers, or are used to run applications that Apple refuses to sell, such as Safari ad-blocking apps, alternate keyboard layouts, or programs that change the interface to the iPhone's SMS system and the way its icons are laid out.
While technically illegal, no one has been sued or prosecuted for the practice. (Apple does seriously frown on the practice, and jailbreaking your phone will still void your warranty.) It's estimated that more than a million iPhone owners have jailbroken their handsets.
Apple fought hard against the legalization, arguing that jailbreaking was a form of copyright violation. The FCC disagreed, saying that jailbreaking merely enhanced the inter-operability of the phone, and was thus legitimate under fair-use rules.
The upshot is that now anyone can jailbreak or otherwise unlock any cell phone without fear of legal penalties, whether you want to install unsupported applications or switch to another cellular carrier. Cell phone companies are of course still free to make it difficult for you to do this -- and your warranty will probably still be voided if you do -- but at least you won't be fined or imprisoned if you jailbreak a handset.
In addition to the jailbreaking exemption, the FCC announced a few oth er rules that have less sweeping applicability but are still significant:
• Professors, students and documentary filmmakers are now allowed, for "noncommercial" purposes, to break the copy protection measures on DVDs to be used in classroom or other not-for-profit environments. This doesn't quite go so far as to grant you and me the right to copy a DVD so we can watch it in two rooms of the house, but it's now only one step away.
• As was the topic in the GE ruling I wrote about, the FCC allows computer owners to bypass dongles (hardware devices used in conjunction with software to guarantee the correct owner is behind the keyboard) if they are no longer in operation and can't be replaced. Dongles are rarities in consumer technology products now, but industrial users are probably thrilled about this, as many go missing and are now impossible to obtain.
• Finally, people are now free to circumvent protection measures on video games -- but, strangely, only to investigate and correct security flaws in those games. (Another oddity: Other computer software is not part of this ruling, just video games.)
Consumers waiting for Apple to open up their iPhones to Verizon, T-Mobile and other carriers outside of AT&T now have some legal cover for taking matters into their own hands.
Newly published exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act now make it legally permissible for consumers to "unlock" their iPhones for use on other carriers.
So reads the exemption:
"Computer programs, in the form of firmware or software, that enable used wireless telephone handsets to connect to a wireless telecommunications network, when circumvention is initiated by the owner of the copy of the computer program solely in order to connect to a wireless telecommunications network and access to the network is authorized by the operator of the network."
While the rule amendments are a victory to the Electronic Frontier Foundation and consumers alike, don't expect waves of users to all of a sudden start "jailbreaking" their devices. For starters, Apple never really enforced jailbreaking to the legal letter and prosecuted anybody for opening an iPhone to another network. The company does, however, void warranties with this practice and will continue to moving forward.
Alternate app stores also legal While Apple's App Store has nearly 250,000 apps for consumers to choose from, enthusiasts who reject Apple's closed method of approving apps will, as part of the amendment, be able to access additional stores more easily.
Notes the exemption:
"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."
Expect rogue or independently operated application stores to take advantage of the new legal opening to exhibit their wares to iPhone users. More significantly is how, if at all, Apple's own App Store will evolve to the changes.
Apple loses bid to criminalize iPhone jailbreaking
Federal ruling says jailbreaking 'innocuous at worst, beneficial at best'
By Gregg Keizer July 26, 2010 04:02 PM ET
Apple lost its bid today to criminalize "jailbreaking," the practice of hacking an iPhone to install unauthorized apps on the smartphone, according to a decision by the U.S. Copyright Office and the Library of Congress.
The decision, which was announced Monday by Librarian of Congress James Billington, adds jailbreaking to the list of practices that do not violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
"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," Marybeth Peters, Register of Copyrights, wrote in the ruling approved by Billington (download PDF).
Peters also blasted Apple's 2009 contention that hacking the iPhone was a violation of U.S. copyright law because the practice relied on pirated copies of the smartphone's bootloader and operating system.
"Apple's objections to the installation and use of unapproved applications appears to have nothing to do with its interests as the owner of copyrights in the computer programs embodied in the iPhone, and running the unapproved applications has no adverse effect on those interests," she wrote in her ruling. "Rather, Apple's objections relate to its interests as a manufacturer and distributor of a device, the iPhone."
She also called jailbreaking "innocuous at worst and beneficial at best."
Apple submitted comments to the Copyright Office in February 2009 after the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) asked for a DMCA exemption in 2008 for cell phone jailbreaking. The EFF, and technology companies that supported it, including Firefox maker Mozilla, wanted the Copyright Office to allow users to install applications not available through Apple's App Store without fear of copyright infringement penalties.
The DMCA and Apple's argument were among the reasons why Mozilla and Norway-based Opera Software declined to create iPhone versions of their Firefox and Opera browsers.
Opera later released Opera Mini, a proxy-based program, for the iPhone. Although Mozilla is actively working on mobile editions of Firefox, it said it would not develop a version for the iPhone. Instead, it recently shipped Firefox Home, a spin-off of the bookmark and tab synchronization technology it currently offers as an add-on to the desktop browser.
The EFF applauded the decision to de-criminalize iPhone jailbreaking.
"Copyright law has long held that making programs interoperable is fair use," said Corynne McSherry, EFF's senior staff attorney, in a statement Monday. "It's gratifying that the Copyright Office acknowledges this right and agrees that the anticircumvention laws should not interfere with interoperability."
Today's ruling also gave a limited green light to security researchers investigating vulnerabilities in computer and videogame console software that are defended by technology copy-protection schemes.
"The socially productive purpose of investigating computer security and informing the public do not involve use of the creative aspects of the work and are unlikely to have an adverse effect on the market for or value of the copyrighted work itself," Peters ruled.
Peters asked for and received confirmation from Billington that a special class be protected against DMCA prosecution. "The Register recommends that the Librarian designate a class of video games protected by access controls, when circumvention is done for the purpose of good faith testing for, investigating, or correcting security flaws or vulnerabilities," Peters said.
Apple did not reply to a request seeking comment on the Copyright Office's ruling.
ccccccccc "U.S. Library of Congress had introduced two critical exceptions to the DMCA, which makes it legal for users to jailbreak and unlock their iPhone in the US." But Apple says doing this will void the warrenty