Every three years, the Library of Congress has the thankless task of listening to people complain about the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The DMCA forbade most attempts to bypass the digital locks on things like DVDs, music, and computer software, but it also gave the Library the ability to wave its magical copyright wand and make certain DRM cracks legal for three years at a time.
This time, the Library went (comparatively) nuts, allowing widespread bypassing of the CSS encryption on DVDs, declaring iPhone jailbreaking to be “fair use,” and letting consumers crack their legally purchased e-books in order to have them read aloud by computers.
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The conclusion is sure to irritate Steve Jobs: “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.”
Read the article to find out other DRM you can now legally crack/avoid/get around.
It beats getting hit in the face with a wet squirrel I guess.
Legal, yes. They’re providing an exception with respect to the DMCA, which prohibits circumventing encryption. Basically, they’re decriminalizing jailbreaking.
However, according to what I’ve read, it will still be against the terms of use with AT&T.
Problem is that they have not made illegal for provider/manufacturer to brick said iPhone or similar device if jailbroken. Good step, though.
#3. Read your post back to yourself.
#4 I’m no lawyer but I’m not sure that’s correct. Apple’s justification for earlier iPhone bricking implied that jail-breaking violated DMCA regs. With those rules defunct, wouldn’t bricking
#4 I’m no lawyer but I’m not sure that’s correct. Apple’s justification for earlier bricking implied that jail-breaking iPhones violated DMCA regs. With those old regs now defunct, wouldn’t bricking violate today’s ruling?
#7: bricking it wouldn’t violate the ruling, it would simply be vindictive. Apple won’t take that PR fail.
#6. Wrong again Einstein. I own nothing produced by Apple. I’m just a pathetic grammarfan.
If you own it, it should be legal to hack it.
That’s nothing. Much worse is the internets saying “in your face” to Steve Jobs. Maybe he is THAT stupid to think that it means nothing, but sooner or later Apple will pay the price of having an infamous asshole for CEO that makes people say “in your face” in the internets.
I gotta admit. Bill Gates has never been as polarizing of a figure as Steve Jobs. Steve’s doucheness has made it a joy to hate him lately.
I’m assuming this means we can also jailbreak other brands of phones too. Not that it makes any difference. As long as they cripple my phones I will jailbreak them. I paid for it, I will do as I wish with my stuff. This story is as stupid as the RIAA and MPAA. They screw us with high prices, we find a way. Same with the phones.
#10 – Yes, it IS legal to hack it. However, it is also permissible for AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, etc., to not allow hacked phones onto their networks.
Basically, you have control over what happens on your own equipment, and so do they.
So does this mean I can jailbreak the computer in my car too? This is more than just an iPhone story. I think people are failing to see the scope of what this will lead to. For starters, the days of subsidized phones in the US may be numbered. And the wording in warranty statements is about to get 10x longer. Just because you can jailbreak something doesnt mean you dont void the warranty. This just isnt a fellony anymore.
So does this mean I can jailbreak the computer in my car too? This is more than just an iPhone story. I think people are failing to see the scope of what this will lead to. For starters, the days of subsidized phones in the US may be numbered. And the wording in warranty statements is about to get 10x longer. Just because you can jailbreak something doesnt mean you dont void the warranty. This just isnt a felony anymore.
Does this mean that I’m allowed to ‘jailbreak’ my satellite receiver to load 3rd party software?
Apple loves you, don’t worry.
http://www.cultofmac.com/apples-official-response-to-dmca-jailbreak-exemption-it-voids-your-warranty/52463
It’s all for YOUR benefit and well being, trust them.
I am more interested in the fact that deCSS is now legal for listening to the DVDs I paid for. Next, I want a way to skip commercials and FBI warnings on DVDs that I paid for. I should immediately get to the menu.
Also the ebook hacking should allow ebooks to finally be adopted when it doesn’t matter if I have a Nook, a Kindle, a Kobo, a Sony Reader, or an iPad.