The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has just released their annual report on which companies help protect your data from the government. The report is ranking the biggest tech companies for who does the best job protecting your data from being rifled through by the Federal Government. Guess what? Apple won’t even tell you nor does they need a warrant for passing on your ( our ) data to the gov.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has just released their annual report on which companies help protect your data from the government. The report is ranking the biggest tech companies for who does the best job protecting your data from being rifled through by the Federal Government. Guess what? Apple won’t even tell you nor does they need a warrant for passing on your ( our ) data to the gov.
July 26th, 2010 – the day that iOS jailbreaking/unlocking and Android rooting became officially legal thanks to EFF ( Electronic Frontier Foundation ). This year, EFF is asking the U.S. Copyright Office to renew that exemption (otherwise it will expire) and expand it to cover tablets. We’re also asking for a new exemption to allow jailbreaking of video game consoles.
Continue reading “Jailbreaking Is Not A Crime: Help EFF Keep Jailbreaking Legal”
The Library of Congress has added new anti-circumvention exceptions to the DMCA that, among other things, allow people to tweak their handsets for the purpose of installing legally obtained software — known as jailbreaking in iOS land, and rooting in the Android / webOS world.
WOW! iH8sn0w passed this story to us, and we still can’t believe it! The Library of Congress has added new anti-circumvention exceptions to the DMCA that, among other things, allow people to tweak their handsets for the purpose of installing legally obtained software — known as jailbreaking in iOS land, and rooting in the Android / webOS world.
Apple’s iPhone marketing chief will square off against the Electronic Frontier Foundation and others Friday as the U.S. Copyright Office considers whether to allow an exemption to the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that would permit jailbreaking. Vice President of iPod and iPhone Product Marketing Greg Joswiak is set to testify Friday afternoon in Palo Alto, California, as the Copyright Office holds the first in a series of hearings on possible exemptions to the nation’s copyright law.
The office holds these hearings every three years. In the past it has granted copy exemptions to people such as college film professors who want to make compilations for their students or users of obsolete software who need to copy their programs to new media formats. This year marks the first time the office will hear arguments about the iPhone, however, and Apple is doing its best to stop the jailbreakers.
It has hired well-respected Fenwick & West intellectual property lawyer David Hayes to represent it at the hearing, and has filed a 27-page legal brief (pdf) arguing that legalizing jailbreaking would lead to “copyright infringement, potential damage to the device and other potential harmful physical effects, adverse effects on the functioning of the device, and breach of contract.”
An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment on the matter. Although it has not prosecuted hackers who have developed jailbreak software, Apple maintains that the practice violates the DMCA, which prohibits the circumvention of copy control mechanisms.
Technical users have been jailbreaking the iPhone since soon after it was released two years ago, despite Apple’s best efforts to make it impossible. Apple strictly controls what software can run on the iPhone, but jailbroken phones have no such restrictions.
The problem is that the iPhone’s digital rights management system not only prevents people from illegally copying its software, it also blocks legitimate users who want to run software on the device that is not approved by Apple, according to EFF attorney Fred von Lohmann. “When an iPhone owner jailbreaks her iPhone, no copyrights are infringed,” he said in an e-mail message. “Granting an exemption will not reduce the availability of iPhone firmware or apps – in fact, it’s likely to increase the availability of both, by creating a more competitive, vibrant, consumer-driven marketplace.”
If the EFF wins its case, users will not only be able to jailbreak the iPhone without running the risk of facing a DMCA lawsuit.
They’ll be able to legally bypass similar technology on other phones too, such as T-Mobile’s Android-based G1 phone. The Copyright Office isn’t expected to make a decision on the jailbreaking issue until October, von Lohmann said, but even if Apple loses, Apple could still decide to go after jailbreakers, saying they violated their iPhone license agreement.
“But an exemption would be a significant step toward legalizing jailbreaking,” he added. Whatever happens, these arguments will probably be made again in 2012. DMCA exceptions have a shelf life of three years.
Do you know what DMCA ( Digital Millennium Copyright Act ) is? Well, it’s a law that Mr. Clinton signed like 10 yrs ago and that says something like “… it is illegal to produce or disseminate technology that is put in place to control access to copyrighted material.” or something like that. I dont care that much , because i dont live in US , and this law is not affecting me . But if you want to read more about it, you can do so here
Every couple of years, Library of Congress and some other dudes are looking for suggestions in order to revise the DMCA. Now ,this year a group by the name of Electronic Frontier Foundation is petitioning for the privilege of hacking smartphones ( read here the petition ).
What does that mean? Well if you got your iPhone jailbreaked , than you know that this is a copyright violation and that Apple ( they only do it in theory ) can sue you for modifying the firmwire. Now, if this petition is bullet proof and this are some hardcore dudes , soon we can legally jailbreak our beloved iPhone and we wont loose the warranty for doing so. ( thats my only gain out of this lol )
