General: Jailbreaking iPad becomes illegal as well as unlocking your iPhone

[Carlanga]

If it doesn't have phone functionality then it has always been illegal. Nothing new, nothing to fear.

[LandonDonovan]

No more unlocking

In 2006 and 2010, the Librarian of Congress had permitted users to unlock their phones to take them to a new carrier. Now that's coming to an end. While the new rules do contain a provision allowing phone unlocking, it comes with a crippling caveat: the phone must have been "originally acquired from the operator of a wireless telecommunications network or retailer no later than ninety days after the effective date of this exemption."

In other words, phones you already have, as well as those purchased between now and next January, can be unlocked. But phones purchased after January 2013 can only be unlocked with the carrier's permission.

Why the change? The Librarian cited two key factors. One is a 2010 ruling that held that when you purchase software, you don't actually own it. Rather, you merely license it according to the terms of the End User License Agreement. The Librarian argued that this undermined the claim that unlocking your own phone was fair use.

Also, the Librarian found that there are more unlocked phones on the market than there were three years ago, and that most wireless carriers have liberal policies for unlocking their handsets. As a result, the Librarian of Congress decided that it should no longer be legal to unlock your cell phone without the carrier's permission.

Is the Librarian a judge now? Isn't the Librarian supposed to read and not interpret the law?

[MastahRiz]

Originally Posted by gotluck

meh, Apple needs to thank the JB community. without it, I for one, wouldn't be using an iOS device.

same here.

[buddybd]

I'll be switching too if they manage to permanently disable jailbreaks. iOS feels bland without a lot of the tweaks that are available in Cydia.

I still can't figure out why they don't put shortcuts in a largely unused notification center. Its there, might as well make it more useful, and hide/minimize it if there are many notifications.

SBSettings and BiteSMS type Quick Reply/Compose are half the reasons why I jailbreak.

[F123D]

Originally Posted by Dwalls90

Apple is freaking stupid.

If they ever permanently disable jailbreaks, I will jump ship.

And if they got their head out of their ass, they would realize most of their good ideas have come from jailbreaking.

I've already jump ship. I've grown tired of the cat and mouse game with apple. Stock iOS is boring and their hardware alone isn't enough to keep me waiting for untethered jailbreaks.

Fully support you jail breakers and hope you guys have something available for your iPhone 5's soon.

[rabidz7]

The DMCA is an offline version of sopa, it should be repealed.

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If jailbreaks are stopped I will just go buy an android.

[sherrys137]

Dumb I know but I was trying to unjail break my phone and screwed it up instead

FAQS
I phone 4 iso 5.1.1
Rocky Racoon Jail break
Deleted Cydia

Tryed what I can find on this fourm

Please help

[Rajani Isa]

Originally Posted by LandonDonovan

Is the Librarian a judge now? Isn't the Librarian supposed to read and not interpret the law?

That's why the Librarian refused to make an exemption for tablet computers - currently there is no set legal definition, as far as I know. So for an exemption to be made, the librarian would be creating a definition.

And as for the unlocking portion - the EULAs say (generally) that we cannot unlock them ourselves. There was the case two years ago where a judge upheld EULAs. Thus the end of the unlock exemption for phones (combined with the fact that you can actually buy unlocked smart phones)

Originally Posted by rabidz7

The DMCA is an offline version of sopa, it should be repealed.

DMCA actually has parts that make sense.

Not saying it couldn't use some cleanup/revision, but things like the ISP protections are needed (imagine what the net would be like if the RIAA/MPAA had managed to sue all the ISPs back when they were suing grandma for millions)

[rogerbarrett]

Yes everyone knows that it is illegal activity to jailbreak any product of Apple.

[rabidz7]

Originally Posted by sherrys137

Dumb I know but I was trying to unjail break my phone and screwed it up instead

FAQS
I phone 4 iso 5.1.1
Rocky Racoon Jail break
Deleted Cydia

Tryed what I can find on this fourm

Please help

Do you have any icloud or itunes backups? If you do erase the iPhone and restore it from a backup that you have this will unjailbreak it. If you do not have a backup this will permanently deleat the iPhone.

[TriJetHero]

Originally Posted by rogerbarrett

Yes everyone knows that it is illegal activity to jailbreak any product of Apple.

I guess you haven't read this thread or just don't understand any of it.

Jailbreaking is legal for phones and wil stay that way!

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Originally Posted by rabidz7

Do you have any icloud or itunes backups? If you do erase the iPhone and restore it from a backup that you have this will unjailbreak it. If you do not have a backup this will permanently deleat the iPhone.

NO YOU CANNOT!

Deleting Cydia does not mean the phone is not jailbroken.
Cydia is just the GUI to download jailbroken apps.

The jailbreak itself is a change in the filestructure which remains.

You cannot do an erase all settings on a jailbroken phone, it will go in a reboot loop, after which a full restore is neccesary.

@rabidz
If you do not have any idea what you are talking about please do not give advice to people, they might end up with a semi-bricked device or force them to update iOS6.

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Originally Posted by sherrys137

Dumb I know but I was trying to unjail break my phone and screwed it up instead

FAQS
I phone 4 iso 5.1.1
Rocky Racoon Jail break
Deleted Cydia

Tryed what I can find on this fourm

Please help

Do you have openSSH installed on your phone?
do you have iFile installed on your phone?
do you have blobs for your iphone?

[rabidz7]

I did a full restore on my (orange) jailbroken iPhone 4 and it worked then I restored from 1 day old backup.

[TriJetHero]

Originally Posted by rabidz7

I did a full restore on my (orange) jailbroken iPhone 4 and it worked then I restored from 1 day old backup.

That is not what you said in your initial posting!
Erasing is not the same a full restore of the firmware.

Full restores can only be done if you have blobs, it is an essential part of the restore proccess.

[stangfreak1984]

Originally Posted by Intell

The iPad was never legal to jailbreak in the US. In the 2010 exemption it wasn't part of the proposal because it didn't exist at the time it was proposed. The exemption only lists smart phones. Something the iPad and iPod Touch are not.

From what musclenerd says on twitter its more a gray area then anything. He posted a few days ago where he jailbroke the ipad mini so who knows where this is gonna go.

[NestOfRobins]

My question is: What is the definition of a PHONE? What is the definition of a TABLET? What makes a device a PHONE and not a TABLET? What makes a device a TABLET and not a PHONE?

If I can make calls with a device, does that make it a phone? If so, since I can use Google Voice with Talkatone, is my iPad now a phone? Does that mean my iPad was a TABLET until I installed GV, but it then became a PHONE?

It seems like a distinction without a difference.

Don't you love it when technical people try to talk about law and when lawyers try to talk about technology?

[indyzzzz]

Originally Posted by NestOfRobins

My question is: What is the definition of a PHONE? What is the definition of a TABLET? What makes a device a PHONE and not a TABLET? What makes a device a TABLET and not a PHONE?

If I can make calls with a device, does that make it a phone? If so, since I can use Google Voice with Talkatone, is my iPad now a phone? Does that mean my iPad was a TABLET until I installed GV, but it then became a PHONE?

It seems like a distinction without a difference.

Don't you love it when technical people try to talk about law and when lawyers try to talk about technology?

A bit off topic: Try GV Phone + / Mo+, its a much better front end app for Google Voice than Talkatone.

[Intell]

Originally Posted by NestOfRobins

My question is: What is the definition of a PHONE? What is the definition of a TABLET? What makes a device a PHONE and not a TABLET? What makes a device a TABLET and not a PHONE?

If I can make calls with a device, does that make it a phone? If so, since I can use Google Voice with Talkatone, is my iPad now a phone? Does that mean my iPad was a TABLET until I installed GV, but it then became a PHONE?

A phone would be a device that has a cellular voice plan. A tablet with Google Voice does not have one of these and thus is not a phone.

[NestOfRobins]

Originally Posted by Intell

A phone would be a device that has a cellular voice plan. A tablet with Google Voice does not have one of these and thus is not a phone.

Again, seems like a distinction without a difference.....

So, an iPhone w/o a cellular plan is a tablet? The point is, what makes a device a phone and what makes a device a tablet? The presence of (or ability to have) a cellular voice plan as the determining factor seems like a decision that would be "arbitrary and capricious" and likely to be overturned under the APA.

[Intell]

Originally Posted by NestOfRobins

Again, seems like a distinction without a difference.....

So, an iPhone w/o a cellular plan is a tablet? The point is, what makes a device a phone and what makes a device a tablet? The presence of (or ability to have) a cellular voice plan as the determining factor seems like a decision that would be "arbitrary and capricious" and likely to be overturned under the APA.

An iPhone without a plan can still have a voice plan added if the owner wants one, because of this ability it is considered a phone. Even if the voice plan is not active or there. A cellular tablet cannot have a voice plan, thus it is not a phone. It isn't that hard to comprehend. Voice plan ability = phone. No voice plan ability = non-phone.

[ReturnPrivacy]

Wait a minute? You say that unless an exemption is granted, it will be illegal to use an iPad any way we want? That is totally, and completely WRONG! It is completely legal to use an iphone, ipad, imac or any other computer or device that you pay for, any way you want to. There is still something called the Constitution in this country isn't there? You are not renting or leasing these things, you bought and paid for them, and that is the end of the story. It is yours, and you can do whatever you want to do with it. You can not do an illegal act with it, such as stealing songs online or things like that, but as long as your actions are not illegal, you can take the Apple software off of it, or do anything else you want with it. It is a piece of hardware, no different than your car in the driveway. You wouldn't accept anyone telling you that you couldn't drive your car or truck would you? Certainly not. This completely illegal garbage that they are trying to get you to believe is total nonsense. I'm just amazed at how many "sheeple" go along with it. Talk about control, wow! Stand up for your rights people, before it is too late.

[TriJetHero]

Originally Posted by ReturnPrivacy

Wait a minute? You say that unless an exemption is granted, it will be illegal to use an iPad any way we want? That is totally, and completely WRONG! It is completely legal to use an iphone, ipad, imac or any other computer or device that you pay for, any way you want to. There is still something called the Constitution in this country isn't there? You are not renting or leasing these things, you bought and paid for them, and that is the end of the story. It is yours, and you can do whatever you want to do with it. You can not do an illegal act with it, such as stealing songs online or things like that, but as long as your actions are not illegal, you can take the Apple software off of it, or do anything else you want with it. It is a piece of hardware, no different than your car in the driveway. You wouldn't accept anyone telling you that you couldn't drive your car or truck would you? Certainly not. This completely illegal garbage that they are trying to get you to believe is total nonsense. I'm just amazed at how many "sheeple" go along with it. Talk about control, wow! Stand up for your rights people, before it is too late.

Sigh, it's your country....

It is illegal to jailbreak an iPad in the USA just as it is illegal to jaywalk or speeding. Better get up to speed with your local laws.

[Intell]

It isn't a lie. The constitution does not make it legal. Nor does it make pirating media illegal. Apple states in the EULA and TOS that the user leases iOS from them. It is not purchased or licensed to the end user for them to do with it as they please. The hardware is yours, but the software still belongs to Apple in a legal sense. It is no different than you leasing a car from Ford or GM and not being able to change out the seats because that would be in violation of the lease. Same with iOS, modifying is illegal, unless explicitly stated in the DCMA. Also the DCMA is not a part of the constitution. I'm just so amazed at how blind people can be when it comes to the laws that govern their land and their property.

[rocknblogger]

Originally Posted by Intell

A phone would be a device that has a cellular voice plan. A tablet with Google Voice does not have one of these and thus is not a phone.

Actually it's not the plans but rather the cellular antennas that enable the device to be a phone.

[Intell]

Originally Posted by rocknblogger

Actually it's not the plans but rather the cellular antennas that enable the device to be a phone.

But in terms of the DCMA exemption, the voice data plan is what defines it. The iPad 3G is still an illegal device to jailbreak. Even though it has a cellular antenna.

[NestOfRobins]

Seems like an "arbitrary and capricious" distinction. What difference does it make if the device has a cellular antenna?