Jailbreaking an iPhone constitutes copyright infringement and a DMCA violation, says Apple in comments filed with the Copyright Office as part of the 2009 DMCA triennial rulemaking. This marks the first formal public statement by Apple about its legal stance on iPhone jailbreaking. Apple's iPhone, now the best-selling cellular phone in the U.S., has been designed with restrictions that prevent owners from running applications obtained from sources other than Apple's own iTunes App Store. "Jailbreaking" is the term used for removing these restrictions, thereby liberating your phone from Apple's software "jail." Estimates put the number of iPhone owners who have jailbroken their phones in the hundreds of thousands. As part of the 2009 DMCA rulemaking, EFF has asked the Copyright Office to recognize an exemption to the DMCA to permit jailbreaking in order to allow iPhone owners to use their phones with applications that are not available from Apple's store (e.g., turn-by-turn directions - Leo Laporte

Boo! - Joey Gibson

Who didn't see this coming. Raise your hands; you too, over there in the back... - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

*le sigh* - Darrell Bell from twhirl

Well that's a shocker. I am shocked I tell you, shocked! - Jason Shultz from twhirl

Hey, there's thing called the DMCA, Apple, which allows jailbreaking on a personal scale. No one's profiting off of this. - Mike Nayyar

Is it just me, or is this analogous to me buying a DVD player at Best Buy only to find out that it will only play DVDs bought from Best Buy? Or buying a computer with Windows loaded only to find it will only run software purchased from Microsoft? - FFing Enigma (aka Tina)

When does the non-DMCA version come out with the 30% greater price tag? - David Knight

I refuse to buy anything that ties me totally into one brand or manufacturer. - Ian May

I am not a copyright expert, but from my perspective I don't see how this fits into a copyright violation. It could be a breach of contract if the sale "contract" included an express prohibition, but I don't think that it does. Didn't see any fine print that said that anyway. - Martha

I think Apple needs to be worrying consumer concerns and addressing the motivation for Jailbreaking. Apple needs to remove the asinine restrictions regarding what types of apps can run in the platform,. If they did that, guess what, nobody would have an incentive to Jailbreak. This is the precise behavior that would cause people to look at devices like the Palm Pre. I can make your product better by Jailbreaking, but to do so is a crime. Get a life and a clue Apple. - Darrell Bell from twhirl

So glad I don't have an iPhone or any other Apple product. I'm sick of their domineering bullshit. - Chris, Without Direction

But apple isn't evil. - Jason Shultz from twhirl

Give me a "jailbreak" Chris, your ignorance is as pronounced as Microsoft's lack of ingenuity! - Brad Stolba

I like apple's design, but this kind of atitude has to change. I have an iPhone, and a mac laptop. I guess it's back to Linux for my next devices. I never should have left. - Don Faulkner from twhirl

It sure is easy to make your software look like it works slick when you design it to be hardware specific instead of hardware agnostic.... - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

It's the domineering bit that sucks. If I buy a phone, and can then only install what YOU determine is ok for it, you can go shove it where the sun don't shine. I'm not anti-apple, just against having the scenario of having to buy and/or use an inferior product that you deem ok, over a superior one that you deem isn't. - Ian May

I really like Apple products, but other than ipods for me and my family, I don't own any, partially at least because of issues like this. According to legend, Apple Just Works, but isn't it (or shouldn't it be) up to consumers whether they want their stuff to Just Work, or to assume the risk of messing around with it themselves? Apple should just say, if you jailbreak your iphone, you void the warranty, and too bad for you if something breaks. - Steve Lowe

Boo Apple! - Paul Wade

Telling you exactly how to be an individual since 1984... - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

Apple is doing a dangerous dance with this evangelical fanboy. If they proceed in this direction, I'm done. - timedalkat from twhirl

Being one of the last vertically integrated companies ensures this behavior. Not really sure why people are so surprised. - Ari Braginsky

In other news, I don't care Apple. - Fleagle

How do you know its Apple? The exemption was unlocking phones for the sole purpose of legally connecting to another wireless provider is OK. Even if the comments were filed to the DMCA by Apple, it could certainly be because of pressure from AT&T. - Mona Nomura

I don't care either, I don't have i anything here anyway,.. hardware or software. - Ian May

Reason #NaN why I don't care that much for the iPhone... - Tyson Key

***Smile*** -Android - Jon Mason

This should increase sales. I'm serious. - Bwana ☠

Just curious, are all the iPhone nay-sayers against the iPhone because of Apple? Or because of the hardware? There is no phone that beats the iPhone and Apple's overall UX in the current market. Aside from QiK, why would you need to Jailbreak anyway? The stock utility apps suffice. - Mona Nomura

I'm not against the iPhone as such.I'm just more than happy with my Blackberry. I wouldn't want AT&T as my provider though. The stock utility apps might well suffice, but that's not really the answer, as many people want the ability to try alternatives. Having that option blocked by draconian measures isn't really cool at all. It's about choice. - Ian May

My iPhone has been incredibly buggy since jailbreaking it. Found I'm not using video as much as I had planned so I'm constantly thinking more and more about restoring it. Thinking about it though, it does bother me that they want to enforce this. I like being able to choose whether I want a buggy phone or not. - Robert DeBord

Mona, the reasons to jailbreak are decreasing, but there are still benefits such as UI customization, video recording (Cycorder) and further camera enhancements (Snapture, ClearCam). Personally, I know I could get by without jailbreaking so this isn't a big deal to me, but I'm not surprised by the reaction. It's pretty much the same deal as Hackintoshes (which is in court now), but on cell phones. - Bwana ☠

Same here Robert, I had planned on restoring mine in the near future. This announcement is a kick in the pants to do it :) - Bwana ☠

Ian - the app store provides more than enough choices... - Mona Nomura

The past few days, some have argued the app store has TOO MANY choices :P - Bwana ☠

Yes Mona, but without jailbreaking you can't install pirated apps ;) - Robert DeBord

+1 Mona - Jeff (the マクダジ of FF)

And Robert has stated the real reason behind this. Apple was fine with everything until the pirates came along. Always ruin everything, I'm telling ya. :) - Bwana ☠

Apple's entire business model is predicated on the closed nature of the platform. If you want an open platform, you get a Windows Mobile phone. Or a G1. That said, the App store is huge!!!!!! And I agree with Mona. - Roberto Bonini

Mona, as I don't have an iPhone I don't know much about the app store, but I also understand there's some kind of convoluting process for writers to get apps in the store? As yet, there's no BB apps store, but I can pretty much install any JRE app in any case. - Ian May

Ian, if a 14 year old kid can get an app on the app store and make money, anyone who's serious about it can - Bwana ☠

Don't forget how much free time a 14 year old has. And oh, every article about some crackerjack 6 yr old who published an iPhone fails to mention the CTO developer parent behind the scenes :p - Ari Braginsky

Still, the point remains.. it's not hard to get an application on the app store. It's hard if you break the rules however. (See: Qik, Ustream, anyone who steps on AT&T's precious bandwidth) - Bwana ☠

Or a 9year old... - Mona Nomura

Bwana, you have a point. As I said above, I'm only repeating what I heard, as I have no personal experience with the iPhone or the store. - Ian May

This is very much a clash of cultures. Those who, historically, don't use apple products are used to self determination when it comes to technology - they're the ones using it, why can't they decide what they do with it? Why *should* you have to use the apps store if you don't want to? What if the app store doesn't provide something you want? Or doesn't provide it well enough.. where do you go? - alphaxion

Can a 14 year old fill out tax forms and submit the $100 developer application with a credit card? I know I know, just pointing out some of the hurdles that aren't really brought up much. The provisioning and certificate hoops you go through is a pain at first but once you do it the first time it's not bad. - Ari Braginsky

I love the apps and the only reason I have seen thus far to jailbreak is to get turn by turn directions on my iPhone's gps. But, I currently am content to wait until the offer it above the table. - Martha

You know what they should do next to really drive home their point? Sue some single mother for $250,000! - Geoff Schultz

@Geoff - You missed one vital step. Sue dead people, and elderly people who don't own computers. - Tyson Key

Apple: our customers SUCK! - You.

This is why I advocate Symbian OS, and anything that's not an iPhone... - Tyson Key

Maybe it's me but WiFi is so accessible tethering isn't an issue. Apps are becoming more cloud sourced / web based, being hung up on native apps and local storage is backwards thinking. - Mona Nomura

Mona makes a great argument... for the Palm Pre. - MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)

It's too early to pitch for Palm Pre Mona :) - Bwana ☠

@mona ownership of data is *never* backwards thinking... it's the thing that concerns me the most about people trying to push the decades old cloud agenda and is something that is totally overlooked until it's too late. Why do you think corporations have been rejecting the notion that storing all of your data and applications with a 3rd party without having your own infrastructure for the past 3 or 4 decades? - alphaxion

And WinMo as well as Symbian - from what I hear. People may have doubts about the cloud but I can not be more excited for the day we no longer have to worry about data synching / transferring. Just back-up, back-up, back-up. - Mona Nomura

The Archive Team would beg to differ :) http://archiveteam.com/index... - Ari Braginsky

personally I will always maintain my own infrastructure and will always own my own data. Stuff I do in the cloud will always be just sharing it with others, should anything happen to those entities my stuff will always be safe. - alphaxion

I've been saying this since CES. Pre may not be "the" handset but I am certainly excited for Nova. And alphaxion: exactly. Back-up and take precautionary measures to fit your individual needs. - Mona Nomura

I'd rather have a phone with an open platform where I know that I can extract all my data from it, install whatever software I want, or tether it to a computer without having to worry about a gatekeeper, even if it doesn't have a "slick" GUI and a load of bravado and drooling fans surrounding it, for what it's worth... - Tyson Key

If it doesn't let you move and copy contacts, calendar entries. entire mailboxes/folders full of messages, and install software to a removable memory card, so that it can be backed-up as many times as necessary, it's not worth it, in my opinion. - Tyson Key

Then Tyson - Android is for you! :) - Mona Nomura

@Mona - I'm also looking forward to seeing the Pre/Nova. Any idea about which versions of Android contain those features, out of interest? I can't remember the version shipping with the emulator containing them, last time I tried it, although I know that I'm able to do that sort of stuff with the phone I have now, and a copy of FExplorer. (There's also a "Back-up" option in the Memory card application that copies everything to a seemingly proprietary .arc file on the card). - Tyson Key

Another thing that sucks about the iPhone - No OBEX. - Tyson Key

"iPhone - I'm In Yah Hand, Eatin' Yah Dataz" ;) - Tyson Key

@Ari - Thanks for pointing me towards the Archive Team site. It looks like an interesting project, and I'm tempted to see what they're up to. - Tyson Key

Interesting to see that a FriendFeed Archiver is already kicking around at http://github.com/lmorcha.... I just hope that I never have to use it more than once. - Tyson Key

No problem. They're looking for quality contributors too. - Ari Braginsky

What is this Nova cellphone that some of you speak of? - Darrell Bell

@Darrell - Nova was the codename/working name for Palm's WebOS Linux-based platform used on the Pre smartphone. - Tyson Key

@ Whiners. I want the coolest hand-held device that works. All this other jail-breaking, complaining and Apple-hating can be solved in a second. Don't buy one. Shut up and go with Android, but don't surf the net, it's been hacked. Wait for the Pre, and wait. Meanwhile no cash flow for Palm, not a penny, while we WAIT. Clunky click a Storm. Be happy. Just quit yer bitchin' - Phil Boiarski

I didn't say that I hated it, just that it had a number of flaws that reduce it's utility to me. I still think that it's an interesting and novel product, as far as technology and the software stack itself goes, though. - Tyson Key

This really opens up more market share for the HTC Dream aka T-mobile G1. Think about it, it's open source. You can't beat that, apple. - Carlos

@Phil that sounds amazingly like what can be said about windows haters. amazing! - Jason Shultz from twhirl

while, I agree that it's stupid and *maybe a little self-destructive - I would have to say, @Carlos, that Apple actually is handily beating the G1... :) - felix

There is no perfect phone, and there probably won't be one, but we can still try... - Tyson Key

@Tyson // Thanks for the clarification - Darrell Bell

@Darrell - No problem, glad that I could clear that up for you. - Tyson Key

some of the things that apple does to its user base, are almost as incredible as what its user base puts up with. - J. Abdul-Qahhar

Bullshit Apple, bullshit. But... I have a iPod Touch and Apple don't say that I can't jailbreak that :P - Kristian Salonen

Don't have to worry. I don't buy apple crap. - Stephan Miller

@Felix, just wait for G2, G3, etc. - Carlos

Good luck on that one. Jailbreak! I stillhave my BB Pearl though, so I can't talk. - John McElhenney 2.0

Carlos - I bought a G1 2 days ago and, while its not as polished as my iPhone, being able to do what the hell I want is great. There's a good post over in the Android room about that browser issue too - Jeffrey Canton

I bought it, I can do anything I want to it. - PC Easy from twhirl

Not really understanding why all the Apple hatred here. As well as research, and running legitimate apps not approved by apple, Jailbreaking lets people run Pirate copies of apps from the app store. Some software companies are seeing as many as 2/3 of the copies being pirate instances running on jailbroken phones. This suggests to me that the majority of jailbreaking is being done to enable people to avoid paying for the Apps from the store, not to run the innocent apps that haven't been enabled by Apple. - Robin Barooah

Let's not forget that Apple has actually enabled a whole group of independent and creative people to make a living from creating interesting mobile software, and that jailbreaking is harming these people far more than it is harming Apple directly. (http://tinyurl.com/bxaws3) (http://tinyurl.com/akfpy5) - Robin Barooah

I agree with apple, and normally I wouldn't jailbreak it, but I'm needing copy/paste, tethering and video recording so i do it, apple get those things out, and won't consider jailbreaking again. i know there is this mess with people pirating apps using jailbreak. But I don't support that, i buy my apps. - Edgar Rodríguez from twhirl

I'd guess that Apple are not really concerned about using the DMCA to stop people, but are more worried that the EFF might have some success in forcing them to 'open' the platform. Perhaps they are positioning themselves at one end of the spectrum so that they have room for compromise. - Robin Barooah

handicap - emma

breakin' th' law breakin' th' law breakin' th' law breakin' th' law breakin' th' law breakin' th' law breakin' th' law breakin' th' law breakin' th' law breakin' th' law breakin' th' law breakin' th' law breakin' th' law breakin' th' law breakin' th' law breakin' th' law breakin' th' law breakin' th' law breakin' th' law breakin' th' law - thegeniusfiles