Jailbreaking To Become Illegal Again

In July 2010 the United States government ruled that jailbreaking and the unlocking of Apple iphones was deemed to be a legal act as long as the process wasn't being carried out with the intention of circumventing copyright. This ruling was a major blow for Apple especially as they had invested so much time and money into making their devices and their operating systems as secure as possible. Apple has always been a public advocate for making jailbreaking an unlawful act.

Apple released a short statement at the time that stated that whilst jailbreaking would be officially legal it would still void any official Apple warranties. Apple also stated that their goal was to insure that customers have a great experience with their iPhone and that jailbreaking could severely degrade the experience.

Last week we saw that the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is lobbying for users to add their electronic voice to a petition which aims to ask the United States Government to declare once again that jailbreaking an iPhone does not violate the DMCA. The EFF are asking for this initial exemption, which is set to expire to be extended to cover tablet devices such as the Apple iPad which is not currently covered in the original ruling.

Charlie Miller who is an iOS developer is an advocate for this change and he has been alerting his Twitter followers to the petition and directing them to the EFF website where they can add their voice. A recent Tweet by Charlie Miller makes a plea for users to sign the online petition to help keep jailbreaking legal and to add the iPad to the ruling.

A lot of people were under the illusion that the ruling was permanent and that no further action is needed but Miller has been quick to point out that this is not the case. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is due to expire and according to statistics, the new Absinthe jailbreak tool which is being downloaded by so many shows that jailbreaking is still extremely popular and the jailbreaking community is thriving and expanding. A growing number of software developers now make a living from selling their software and tweaks on Cydia.

It really is important to have your voice heard and if you want to sign the petition all you have to do is visit the Electronic Frontier Foundation website and send your comment to the Copyright Office. Comments must be received by the 10th of February 2012.THE REST OF THE POST HERE (between these two SPAN`s, so dont edit them.) or delete them. Just remove this text and copy in the rest of the article.