U.S. Government Legalizes iPhone Jailbreaking

If you jailbreak your iPhone in a country where jailbreaking is legal, can it really be called jailbreaking? That's what American iPhone users will soon have to ask themselves, thanks to a new set of governmental rules approved by the Library of Congress. As the AP reports, the Library has just legalized code-breaking on Apple's smartphone, meaning users can now download non-Apple approved apps with a completely clear conscience. The new ruling comes as an exemption to a 1988 federal law that bans consumers from working around technical barriers that companies impose to prevent unauthorized use of their products. The Library of Congress, which manages the U.S. Copyright Office, reviews its list of exemptions every three years, and, this go-round, finally decided to grant parole to the iPhone.

Apple has become notorious for the tight, puritanical approach it has taken in governing the App Store, and we're pretty sure that the company won't take too kindly to any government-sanctioned infringement upon that hegemony. Realistically, however, these new rules are probably more ceremonial than anything else. People have been emancipating their iPhones for years now, so it's unlikely that any newfound legality will encourage a new wave of do-gooders to shed their phones' digital shackles. Symbolically, though, the Library's decision tacitly confirms what we've all known for a while now; the smartphone app market has become larger than any one company, and should function freely, without the threat of legal action hanging over it. [From: AP/Yahoo! and Engadget]

Tags: app, Apple, appstore, cellphones, iphone, JailBreak, jailbreaking, LibraryOfCongress, loc, smartphone, top