According to Apple, Jailbreaking is illegal

[Small White Car]

According to an article on CNN...

There's your problem. So CNN made up some stuff. Nice, but it doesn't mean anything.

Apple has made NO indication that they care about people jailbreaking their own iPhones. Nothing whatsoever.

Everything they've done is aimed squarely at other people breaking into the software for commercial gain. You know that company selling their own computers running OS X? Apple doesn't want to see other companies selling their own phones running the iPhone OS X. (Or, conversely, re-selling iPhones they bought running other operating systems.)

It's perfectly reasonable that Apple would want to stop those things for happening, and that's what they're doing here. Every single "Apple doesn't want you to jailbreak!" article is simply fluff based on nothing more than fear and guesswork.

Apple really doesn't care what you do to your own phone.

 

[markgamber]

Yeah, seriously, I'd trust some drunk standing on the corner ranting about that Mayan calendar garbage before I believed CNN. Maybe Larry King bought a ton of AAPL and is trying to short it.

 

[barkomatic]

There's your problem. So CNN made up some stuff. Nice, but it doesn't mean anything.

Apple has made NO indication that they care about people jailbreaking their own iPhones. Nothing whatsoever.

Everything they've done is aimed squarely at other people breaking into the software for commercial gain. You know that company selling their own computers running OS X? Apple doesn't want to see other companies selling their own phones running the iPhone OS X. (Or, conversely, re-selling iPhones they bought running other operating systems.)

It's perfectly reasonable that Apple would want to stop those things for happening, and that's what they're doing here. Every single "Apple doesn't want you to jailbreak!" article is simply fluff based on nothing more than fear and guesswork.

Apple really doesn't care what you do to your own phone.

Maybe, maybe not. If the PDF that was linked to in the article was genuinely sent to the U.S copyright office then the story has credibility.

Whether Apple would ever pursue jailbreakers the way RIAA pursued free teenage music downloads is doubtful. My guess is that they'd go after those providing the jailbreaking/unlocking software.

 

[Small White Car]

Whether Apple would ever pursue jailbreakers the way RIAA pursued free teenage music downloads is doubtful.

I agree, and that's my point. The entire article is geared around the idea that they might. It starts with a headline asking if you (not some developer, but YOU) could go to jail and then ends by asking if Apple can tell you what to do on your phone.

That's the entire thrust of the article: Can Apple control what YOU do to your phone?

My response is that no, Apple has no desire to control you or your individual phone.

The people who make the software or try to re-sell phones may very well be in trouble, but they were barely even mentioned in the article. It's clear that CNN is asking what Apple will do to average users who Jailbreak. And the answer is: Nothing.

 

[mkrishnan]

Does anyone have a large, encompassing summary of the effects of the DMCA, because companies seem to be able to just say, "Oh, DMCA says..." for virtually anything these days.

What all does this thing do, anyway?

I think this is one of the major problems... the DMCA is a really far-reaching document that applies to a fairly wide range of situations and is quite interpretable in many ways. And not incidentally it applies to rapidly evolving circumstances. It's ultimately going to need a lot of case law before it becomes really clear how it's going to be interpreted by the judicial system and enforced by the executive branch.

 

[kdarling]

Forget CNN. Read the EFF's take on the matter.

 

[lostngone]

I don't care about JailBreaking. I just want my phone unlocked but the only way to do it is to Jailbreak it first.

 

[Sparky9292]

Copyright infringment != Theft

Digital theft, physical theft... still deny the developer in the same way.

Uh, WTF is digital theft? Well if it's stealing the developers hard drive... F*** that's evil! HTF is making a copy of software even remotely the same as stealing a developers hard drive???

It's people like you who make congress pass terrible overkill laws like the DMCA because they think robbing someone (theft) is the same as making a copy. You are the type of people who support the RIAA bypassing due process because of all of the "stealing" going on.

Copyright infringement ( != theft) is a fairly lightweight crime. It's about the same as smoking weed. Show me a developer that is suffering because people widely pirate his app and I'll stop doing it.

I say that if you are rich, pay for a copy, if not, then pirate (arrrrrghh me matey) until you get a decent paying job.

 

[be300test]

Uh, WTF is digital theft? Well if it's stealing the developers hard drive... F*** that's evil! HTF is making a copy of software even remotely the same as stealing a developers hard drive???

It's people like you who make congress pass terrible overkill laws like the DMCA because they think robbing someone (theft) is the same as making a copy. You are the type of people who support the RIAA bypassing due process because of all of the "stealing" going on.

Copyright infringement ( != theft) is a fairly lightweight crime. It's about the same as smoking weed. Show me a developer that is suffering because people widely pirate his app and I'll stop doing it.

I say that if you are rich, pay for a copy, if not, then pirate (arrrrrghh me matey) until you get a decent paying job.

AGREED

i hate how artists get richer and i get poorer....i consider my singing good...so next time im in hollywood and i sing in the street...im going to send them a invoice for my music....if they dont pay it...ill have to take it up with riaa or whatever that scam company is.

stingy BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP's

 

[northy014]

If they haven't sued the iPhone Dev teams yet, then they're certainly not going to go after individual jailbreakers. Think of how much negative press the RIAA got for suing all those people, and how little money they actually made from it all. There's no point. It's just not worth the damage to the Apple brand. I reckon if they care that much then Apple would put a team of lawyers at the ready to stop the iPhone devs.

 

[samiwas]

Uh, WTF is digital theft? Well if it's stealing the developers hard drive... F*** that's evil! HTF is making a copy of software even remotely the same as stealing a developers hard drive???

It's people like you who make congress pass terrible overkill laws like the DMCA because they think robbing someone (theft) is the same as making a copy. You are the type of people who support the RIAA bypassing due process because of all of the "stealing" going on.

Copyright infringement ( != theft) is a fairly lightweight crime. It's about the same as smoking weed. Show me a developer that is suffering because people widely pirate his app and I'll stop doing it.

I say that if you are rich, pay for a copy, if not, then pirate (arrrrrghh me matey) until you get a decent paying job.

Wow. This is about the dumbest thing I have ever read.

First of all, I *DO NOT* agree with the copy protections and DRM and the way the RIAA goes after people. In fact, if the RIAA were to get blown up with everyone inside tomorrow, I'd be roasting marshmallows in the flames. But they do this simply because there are so many people stealing the work. If people would stop being so crappy, maybe the media companies would be as well.

Reading through some other threads of people who have entire terabyte hard drives filled with movies and music (and many of them blatantly say that they torrent them instead of buying them), you can see where the artists and companies are coming from.

And your argument is that because you don't have a decent-paying job, you deserve to get the stuff for free? Others say that it's a victimless crime because the stuff that is pirated would never have been bought in the first place. While this may be true to an extent, to say that those aforementioned people with bulging hard drives of media wouldn't have bought any of it is ludicrous.

But it's hard to say where to draw the line. I roll my eyes every time the media companies have a skit or a part of a TV show pulled off of YouTube due to copyright infringement. If it weren't for seeing clips on YouTube, there are some shows I never would have started watching. Family Guy and SNL to name a couple. And I don't know who would want to watch a YouTube version of a movie anyway.

I generally don't support any musicians or media which impose harsh restrictions on their audience. The music I listen to is generally from the artists who allow taping of their shows and free distribution of those shows. In fact, by their rules, it's illegal to sell their bootlegged stuff...it has to be free. And they do well enough. And thus I always pay for their studio albums when they put one out, and always hit their concerts and buy a shirt or something. If more artists and media companies would be like that, I think it would change the ballgame in a major way.

 

[Sparky9292]

First of all, I *DO NOT* agree with the copy protections and DRM and the way the RIAA goes after people. In fact, if the RIAA were to get blown up with everyone inside tomorrow, I'd be roasting marshmallows in the flames. B

My main gripe with copyright infringement law is that it is too harsh. 5 years in prison and $250,000 is wayyyyyyy overkill. It is not our job to police an out-dated business policy that the music/software/video support.

I buy all my games off Steam. Why? Yes I can download it on the internet, but it's soo damn easy and the DRM never gets in the way.

 

[Small White Car]

My main gripe with copyright infringement law is that it is too harsh.

This is reasonable, which is probably why you should have said this first instead of saying that not having money is a reason to steal things. Because that sounds pretty ridiciulous.

 

[Jack Flash]

My main gripe with copyright infringement law is that it is too harsh. 5 years in prison and $250,000 is wayyyyyyy overkill. It is not our job to police an out-dated business policy that the music/software/video support.

I buy all my games off Steam. Why? Yes I can download it on the internet, but it's soo damn easy and the DRM never gets in the way.

So, what's your excuse for not buying a song off iTunes?

 

[Trajectory]

People have been "unlocking" or "jailbreaking" cellphones for years, ever since the phone companies tried to monopolize the market and threw up all kinds of legal barriers to using your phone the way you want to.

If Apple thinks it can prevent this from continuing, they are delusional at best.

The mobile carriers (yes, the same ones spying on you and me) don't want any competition so they don't have to innovate very much (see RIAA), so, they create legal hurdles to box you into their monopolizing schemes which essentially puts the breaks on innovation and pushes out competition. Then these companies grow to gigantic proportions by swallowing up competitors, and when they f**k things up and lose all their money, they expect taxpayers to bail them out of their bad decisions and judgement!

Cronyism is the NEW Captialism!