Imagine not being able to change the spark plugs in your vehicle. Or think about the prospect of purchasing a car and not being able to put water in the radiator, or put on your spare tire. That’s essentially what Apple has done with its attempts to ensure that users don’t jailbreak their iPhone. Thanks to changes in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, however, jailbreaking the iPhone is now just as acceptable as jailbreaking your automobile.
The new rules are centered around six classes of copyrighted works.
- Motion pictures on DVDs
- Computer programs that enable wireless telephone handsets to execute software applications
- Computer programs, in the form of firmware or software, that enable used wireless telephone handsets to connect to a wireless telecommunications network
- Video games accessible on personal computers and protected by technological protection measures that control access to lawfully obtained works
- Computer programs protected by dongles that prevent access due to malfunction or damage and which are obsolete
- Literary works distributed in ebook format when all existing ebook editions of the work (including digital text editions made available by authorized entities) contain access controls that prevent the enabling either of the book’s read-aloud function or of screen readers that render the text into a specialized format
For purposes related to this blog post we’re going to discuss the second class:
Computer programs that enable wireless telephone handsets to execute software applications, where circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of enabling interoperability of such applications, when they have been lawfully obtained, with computer programs on the telephone handset.
Evidently, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington believes that iPhone owners should be able to use their iPhones for computer programs not specific to the iPhone. Quite frankly, I don’t know why Apple executives don’t feel the same way. I mean, you’d think they’d want to sell more iPhones.
Despite being a big Apple fan, this is the right decision, and it doesn’t just apply to Apple. It applies to all phone manufacturers. Reality is, you are buying the phone so you have the right to do with it what you please. It’s as simple as that.
