The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) announced this week that it has filed a petition with the U.S. Librarian of Congress and the Copyright Office to extend and expand the exemption that makes jailbreaking an iOS device or rooting an Android device possible without violating the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) in the United States.
The EFF has previously fought for and been awarded this exemption for jailbreaking and rooting devices in 2010 and 2012, although it is forced to argue its case every three years due to the process in which DMCA exemptions are considered. This time around, it is hoping to expand the exemption for smartphones to include the iPad and other tablets.
The non-profit digital rights group argues that consumers should be able to install any software they want on their smartphones and tablets, especially given the security and accessibility advantages that are possible through jailbreaking or rooting a device.
EFF via iDownloadBlog:
“That’s important because jailbreaking (or “rooting,” on Android devices) has real-world implications for users’ ability to use their phones and tablets effectively and securely. It may be a necessary step before installing security updates after a device has stopped being supported by the manufacturer. In other cases, it may help users install accessibility software that allows them to use a device despite disabilities.”
Last month, a Chinese team called Pangu released an iOS 8 untethered jailbreak for compatible iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices. Pangu was recently given a stamp of approval by Cydia creator and respected member of the jailbreaking community Jay Freeman, who indicated that the Windows-only jailbreak tool is “now stable enough for use.”
Jailbreaking an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch allows you to install third-party applications, tweaks, mods, themes, utilities and other useful packages from Cydia, the jailbreak equivalent of the App Store on stock iOS. In layman’s terms, jailbreaking enables you to further customize and enhance your iOS device beyond the limitations that Apple imposes.
While jailbreaking is considered legal in the United States based on this exemption, keep in mind that the process of modifying your device violates your End User License Agreement (EULA) with Apple and may void your device’s warranty. There are also certain risks involved with jailbreaking that could require restoring your device.
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Maybe I’m missing something here, but isn’t jailbreaking making use of a security hole that ideally shouldn’t exist?
It does make use of security holes, but they are closed after the jailbreak is done. The community is also quick to identify problems and security holes that Apple takes a few days to fix. They’ve patched more than one hole a couple days and up to a week before Apple issues a .1 fix for them.
Poor reporting.
Jailbreaking is NOT “legal.” Jailbreaking is legal ONLY if the purpose for the act is not ITSELF illegal.
Given that the by FAR the majority of jailbreaking is done for the express purpose of stealing software or installing illegal software or breaking into other people devices for nefarious purposes … almost all jailbreaking being done today is still 100% ILLEGAL.
It’s a fine point, but it’s a very important one and any article that talks about jailbreaking without mentioning it is not only poor journalism, it’s irresponsible nonsense at best.
This is basically tantamount to saying that because “right turn on red” is “legal,” that it’s perfectly legal to do so without stopping, without looking, or if someone is walking in front of the car on the crosswalk. There are caveats and conditions to every law. Presenting them as idiotic, blanket, black and white statements does a disservice to everyone and confuses the issues irredeemably.
>Jailbreaking is NOT “legal.”
Really? How so?
>Given that the by FAR the majority of jailbreaking is done for the express purpose of stealing software
Depends on what sources you add to Cydia. By default none of them are and anyone that wanted to steal them is going to steal them anyway. There are ways to install stolen apps on non-jailbroken phones but it’s not well known because of the obvious.
>installing illegal software
Lol. What “illegal” software are you talking about?
> breaking into other people devices for nefarious purposes
There’s no evidence of this, and there’s articles on this very site about malware being installed on non-jailbroken phones for christ sake. Could you be more ignorant?
>it’s irresponsible nonsense at best.
Yeah, no kidding. It’s like you have no idea that you have no clue what you’re talking about at all.
Jailbreaking for mobile phones IS legal through next year when they will argue to extend the exemption again. Mobile phone jailbreaking is the only exemption in the law. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IOS_jailbreaking#Legal_status
It should be common knowledge that using jailbreaking to commit piracy or other illegal activities is just that: illegal. I do not need to explicitly mention that in the post, as the EFF is petitioning to keep jailbreaking itself legal and is not advocating for illegal activities. What you are implying is the same thing as saying alcohol is not “legal” since some people drink and drive or torrenting is not “legal” since many people download copyrighted movies and other files.
I don’t get the point of jailbreaking. Seems to me to be too much risk and don’t you basically invalidate any warranty if you jailbreak?
There’s tons of things you can’t change. One good instance is changing the default shortcuts on the menu that you swipe up from the bottom to access. I’d love to change those to something that’s actually useful for me, but Apple won’t allow it. Jailbreaking makes that possible. And it doesn’t void your warranty in any way because it’s 100% reversible by just wiping your phone and reinstalling the OS. It’s never been something that Apple could tell had been done unless you told them you did, and it’s never actually broken a single device either through software or hardware damage.
Stopped rooting and jailbreaking years ago. Let the tech dorks and geeks worry about this.
I’ve said in some previous post long ago that Apple has legitimate reasons for not having their products jailbroken, it can open doors that a user wish they didn’t. On the other hand, Cydia has some pretty neat stuff in their store that you might want to add to your iPhone or iPad and can see why someone might want to jailbreak their phone to be able to use those tweaks.
The EFF’s argument “In other cases, it may help users install accessibility software that allows them to use a device despite disabilities.” is the lamest reason I’ve heard yet from what really is turning out to be the biggest liberal group out there. Apple has the best OS for accessibility to date on a mobile device, so that really doesn’t hold any weight at all.
I think the crux of it all is, nobody wants or needs our mobile devices to have the ability to spread malicious software. It is has the potential to damage to our economy, our power grid, our banking…. how we live today. All it takes is someone with a smartphone to be able to connect and deliver a crippling blow to our cell network. It’s those reasons why jailbreaking and rooting isn’t something that should be legal or allowed.
If you don’t like that you can’t have your favorite set of icons on your iPhone, then go Android where you have that chance to do so, safely. There is more at stake then the ability to customize your UI.This is where the EFF is missing the boat and not thinking smartly or clearly pushing this exemption through, and thank your fellow user who decided to hack in to our credit card networks because it’s his/her actions that have caused the NSA, the FBI, and the CIA for putting their foot in the door of the average user.
I like some of the the things I’ve seen in Cydia, and I wish Apple would find a way to let their users have those things. They’ve made a start in iOS 8.1, lets hope iOS 9 brings even more changes.
>is the lamest reason I’ve heard yet from what really is turning out to be the biggest liberal group out there.
Their political leanings, however perceived, are irrelevant.
>I think the crux of it all is, nobody wants or needs our mobile devices to have the ability to spread malicious software.
There’s no evidence that jailbreaking does this, if that’s your implication.
>It’s those reasons why jailbreaking and rooting isn’t something that should be legal or allowed.
A complete lack of factual evidence undermines your argument. There is no reason to ban jailbreaking/rooting of any phone based on your assumptions because you have no facts to back it up.
>If you don’t like that you can’t have your favorite set of icons on your iPhone, then go Android where you have that chance to do so, safely.
Jailbreaking is perfectly safe and has been since 2007. Modifying springboard icons puts your device in no danger of not working and it doesn’t create some hollywood magic hacker hole in anything like you assume it does.
>There is more at stake then the ability to customize your UI.
Like what exactly? You’ve stated multiple fantasy outcomes to a benign process with no facts to back it up. Just saying “this could happen” doesn’t make it actually true. The facts aren’t on your side either, there’s been no attack, hack or penetration of anything you’ve said would happen by any jailbroken or rooted cell phone.
>This is where the EFF is missing the boat and not thinking smartly or clearly pushing this exemption through, and thank your fellow user who decided to hack in to our credit card networks because it’s his/her actions that have caused the NSA, the FBI, and the CIA for putting their foot in the door of the average user.
This is complete nonsense. No iPhone or Android user has used any phone to “hack” into a credit card network, and the various government agencies have never used this as a defense on why they routinely break domestic and international law. They do so because politically they have no one with the guts to actually stop them, not because Joe Nobody downloaded this and jailbroke his iPhone. You really have no clue what you’re talking about and shouldn’t feel free to spread your opinion in any official manner such as contacting your Congress representative. You’re free to do so of course, but just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
>I like some of the the things I’ve seen in Cydia, and I wish Apple would find a way to let their users have those things.
Based on the nonsense you’ve written here I have absolutely no doubt you’ve ever touched a jailbroken iPhone. Not once.