The practice of unlocking your iPhone so that it can be used on another network or run applications other than those allowed on the Apple Store, a term known as ‘jailbreaking’, has been heavily frowned on by Apple who consider it to be unauthorized and technically illegal.
The Cupertino Company has said in the past that Jailbreaking degrades the user experience, will void your warranty if you do it, and warns that if you do it, you could damage your phone.
Now, however, despite a fight from Apple, the Library of Congress has decided that Jailbreaking the iPhone, or indeed any mobile phone, is ‘Fair Use’ and perfectly legal.
This doesn’t mean that Apple are going to approve, or make it easier, and will no doubt find the ruling a bitter pill to swallow, but it does change things a little bit.
Apple likes to keep a firm grip on what networks you can use and what applications you are allowed to install on your iPhone and can remove apps and ban developers as they see fit, for whatever reason they want, justified or not.
Now they can’t stop anyone from unlocking their phones, not that they could anyway, but that doesn’t mean that Apple will have to make it any easier for those who want to. The company has a habit of using software upgrades to disable phones that have been unlocked and will still be able to do that and void a warranty.
“Apple’s goal has always been to insure that our customers have a great experience with their iPhone and we know that jailbreaking can severely degrade the experience.
“As we’ve said before, the vast majority of customers do not jailbreak their iPhones as this can violate the warranty and can cause the iPhone to become unstable and not work reliably,” PC World reports Apple as saying in response to the ruling.
The only real difference now is that users who do want to Jailbreak will know for sure they are not breaking the law in doing so.
Jennifer Stisa Granick, EFF’s civil liberties director, told Associated Press that consumers should be allowed to modify their own devices if they want to.
“If you bought it, you own it” she said.
Exactly! Why should Apple have the right to dictate what you can and can’t do with your phone after it has been bought and paid for?
