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[ILikePie]

Finally people realize that the "It's mine so I get to do whatever I want with it" statement actually works.

iPhones have the potential to be nice, pocket computers, but for some dumb reason Apple locks them up. You are forced to buy silly applications to do tasks you would normally do on a computer for free, and many of the phone's features are hidden behind that pretty ui they call a "SpringBoard." Fortunately, there is a way to fix all this though, and it's called Jailbreaking. The iPhone's firmware is modified to accept 3rd party apps Apple won't usually let you get from the app store. These include downloading and flash plugins for your browser, the gcc compiler tools (at least some them, that is), and even a terminal emulator. You can even write and run your own apps without paying a $100 developer subscription.

Up until now this was all semi legal. Yes, you payed for this piece of junk, so you do whatever you like with it, but you lose your warranty. If your device breaks, or you end 'bricking' it, nobody's going to repair it for you. Now some nice guys at the Electronic Frontier Foundation thought, "hey, that ain't fair, I thought this my device" and after a conversation with the US government, it's all suddenly legal.

Here are some articles:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/201892/us_government_iphone_jailbreaking_is_fair_use.html?tk=hp_new
http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2010/07/26
http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/26/library-of-congress-adds-dmca-exception-for-jailbreaking-or-root/

I'm guessing this means custom firmware in general is also legal (I don't know much about this, was it legal beforehand?).


Any thoughts on this great, world-changing event?

[KaelGotDwarves]

Should always have been legal. You own the hardware you buy. Just because you buy hardware from a certain company doesn't mean the company should have control of what you put on it.

[Criptfeind]

Oh look more iphone stuff. I don't really care because I am a technical illiterate.

[ILikePie]

Here's the actual law stuff if anyone cares. It under sections two and three.

[Cthulhu]

Maybe I'm dumb and have no idea what I'm talking about, but isn't being stingy about proprietary software/hardware why Apple fell behind Microsoft to begin with?  You'd think they'd have learned their lesson.

[ILikePie]

Maybe I'm dumb and have no idea what I'm talking about

You ain't dumb, most people who don't use iPhones/iPods don't get this immediately. The iPhone is locked up in a very annoying way. It supports either a weird music format from Apple, or MP3. Same goes for video. Your computer recognizes the phone as a "camera," locking up it's actual content (It's files folders and whatnot). No support for flash, ogg, or anything that you'd expect from a normal computer. Apple doesn't accept most of the apps people submit to their store, so you pay them a hundred bucks, work your ass off making your app, and they don't accept it. Like any computer, the iPhone can multi-task, but up until the 4.0 release a normal iPhone couldn't run more than one app at a time.


Jailbreaking adds all those, people have ported things like mplayer (for proper video and audio support), and even apps that allow multitasking. Someone got Linux running in the device, etc.

[Servant Corps]

I might be wrong, but don't people jailbreak their IPod to download apps illegally?

[MetalSlimeHunt]

No, the do it to use fully legal non-Apple sponsored apps. Laws that reflect reality are great and all, but I wouldn't remain too optimistic. This is a company whom's reputation went from "Neutral Good Microsoft" to "Evil Bastards with less sense than Microsoft" in only a few years.

[qwertyuiopas]

I might be wrong, but don't people jailbreak their IPod to download apps illegally?

From what I think I know:
Yes, jailbreaking is required to download apps illegally, however, it is the same as how you need an internet connection to browse the bay12 forums: Yes, it is required, but that doesn't mean that it is *only* used for it. The bay12 forum is one site in the entire internet, similarily, illegally downloaded apps would only be one of many reasons someone may want to jailbreak their ipod.

[Jay]

I might be wrong, but don't people jailbreak their IPod to download apps illegally?

From what I think I know:
Yes, jailbreaking is required to download apps illegally, however, it is the same as how you need an internet connection to browse the bay12 forums: Yes, it is required, but that doesn't mean that it is *only* used for it. The bay12 forum is one site in the entire internet, similarily, illegally downloaded apps would only be one of many reasons someone may want to jailbreak their ipod.

Same deal with DS flashcards.  Any of them.
And yet...
"Piracy devices" own the market there, in the eyes of the media.
Le sigh.