Jailbreaking - Illegal or Not?

It’s been a helluva couple of days here at Tech2.0 after I posted the iPhone Jailbreaking technique and method as a feature article on the site. It seems like most of the comments I received with regards to the article made plenty of sense to the hardcore Apple fans out there and, yes, it’s quite possible I hit a nerve with some individuals. While this is not an apology in any way for the information I provided about jailbreaking the device, I’m writing this purely as a professional reviewer who wishes to clear the air on what exactly the situation is like when it comes to this particular procedure.

Of course there are also some of those who are genuinely sore at the point made that this is your piece of hardware that you’ve purchased and have every right to do with it as you please, provided it’s not use to break any laws or infringe on privacy. There are also those who are all for the ‘kicking the doors down’ and letting a free reign of ideas and developers share their designs with them. A sense of liberation is what it could be described as I guess.

But the Billion Dollar question, of whether or not Jailbreaking the iPhone is legal or not, is extremely relevant to every mobile handset user out there. Allow me to give you a quick highlight at what actually went down when the claim was made that Jailbreaking is illegal.

Here’s the low-down -

Recently Apple had officially filed a comment with the U.S. Copyright Office stating that, according to their company and the norms they have devised in conjunction with the iPhone mobile device, “Jailbreaking an iPhone constitutes copyright infringement and a DMCA violation.”

Every three years a very important board at the US Copyright Office has a meeting to define the various rules, regulations and such which will be reviewed with regards to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). During this year's session, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has filed a counter ‘exemption request’ stating that - Jailbreaking iPhones for the purposes of interoperability (ability to use applications and software that are not provided by Apple) with independent software from third party developers, should not be an issue.

On one hand Apple can claim justification for rendering the process illegal as the process itself - "involves infringing uses of the bootloader and OS, the copyrighted works that are protected by the TPMs (Technological Protection Measure) being circumvented."

The EFF has also brought a very valid argument to the table saying - "courts have long recognized that copying software while reverse engineering is a fair use when done for purposes of fostering interoperability with independently created software."

What this means is that reverse engineering, (which essentially means the process of discovering the technological principles of a device, object or system through analysis of its structure, function and operation - Wiki ) has been done for a long time now with variety of products to enhance their capabilities over and above what the manufacturing company intended.

At the moment the discussions are at a stalemate. As of now, Jailbreaking is NOT officially declared illegal. What you do with a handset you buy is your business. Stay tuned to Tech2.0 for more details, we’ll keep you posted.

Could this whole scenario of Apple suddenly rising up to make public case that the jailbreaking process is illegal be merely to generate more publicity for the handset, who knows. Could this be a genuine grievance the company has raised because they believe that a certain principal THEY put in place has been violated? Of course. Does it have bearing on personal property? Maybe. And should the procedure of Jailbreaking actually be curtailed? That’s something we’ll have to let the courts officially decide obviously. But I’d like all you readers to send in your suggestions and your opinions on what you think is the right thing to do.

Send in your views I assure you, they will be appreciated.