Apple issues official response on jailbreak ruling

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Apple issues official response on jailbreak ruling

Apple has issued an official response to yesterday’s Library of Congress Copyright Office ruling that jailbreaking a smartphone did not constitute a copyright violation, and instead fell under fair use. “Apple’s goal has always been to insure that our customers have a great experience with their iPhone and we know that jailbreaking can severely degrade the experience,” an Apple spokesperson told Cult of Mac. “As we’ve said before, the vast majority of customers do not jailbreak their iPhones as this can violate the warranty and can cause the iPhone to become unstable and not work reliably.” Apple had in the past argued that jailbreaking was illegal—in that it constituted copyright infringement and a DMCA violation—and that it could enable “potentially catastrophic” network attacks.

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Comments

1

My phone = mine to do with what I please. I paid for it, if I decide to jailbreak it then it’s up to me.

I haven’t, for what it’s worth. But I want the freedom to do so if I change my mind.

ps “catastrophic network attacks”? Bull….

Posted by lansalot on July 27, 2010 at 6:51 AM (PDT)

2

I wouldn’t expect Apple’s response to be any different. The likelihood that they would have ever gone after individual users for jailbreaking their devices was slim even before the DMCA provision, but it doesn’t change the fact that Apple is never going to condone this or even begin to suggest that it’s acceptable from their point of view.

In short, the iOS hardware and software are an integral part of the same package and Apple wants to preserve the user experience and maintain a supported configuration for warranty purposes. Users with enough tech savvy to jailbreak their devices will likely never have a problem with this policy, and if there are any warranty issues they should be smart enough to restore to a “stock” firmware before visiting the Genius Bar. Tech-savvy folks are also smart enough to know what they’re getting into and won’t blame Apple or badmouth the device to all their friends if they’re getting poorer battery life and/or stability problems due to playing around with unofficial third-party apps, extensions and hacks.

On the other hand, the “gloom and doom” proclamations scare away people who may jailbreak without realizing what they’re getting into and then suddenly show up at an Apple Store looking to have a jailbroken device “fixed” because some dodgy system enhancement app that they never should have installed in the first place has messed it up. Usually a clean “restore” will completely fix such problems, but I can appreciate why Apple wouldn’t want their Genius Bar employees to be spending time dealing with these sorts of issues.

Even worse are those jailbreaking “evangelists” who go around JBing iPhones for friends and family without really explaining what they’re doing, just because JBing is the “cool” thing to do. Then these users have problems and assume that it’s Apple or the iPhone that are the problem rather than the fact that they’re running software that was never properly designed to run on the device in the first place.

Don’t get me wrong: Jailbreaking is a great way to hack and play around for those who are tech savvy and experienced enough to understand what they’re doing and live with the risks. It’s still not for the average user, however, no matter how simple and easily available the tools now are.

Posted by Jesse Hollington in Toronto on July 27, 2010 at 7:00 AM (PDT)

3

Since Apple & AT&T are still officially married for a couple more years, does either entity have a case to put forth a cease & desist to another carrier who allows an iPhone on their network?

Posted by Charles Farley on July 27, 2010 at 7:45 AM (PDT)

4

Well, if it weren’t for jailbreaking, I wouldn’t have any “iPhone experience”. Still waiting for AT&T to come to Montana….

Posted by Ray on July 27, 2010 at 7:57 AM (PDT)

5

Well now- Now that I’m assured by the powers that be that it’s not illegal? Hmmmmm….
I’m tech savvy enough to do it and restore if need be, BUT: If one was to Jbrk it and then have problems and have to restore, would one lose all Jbroken stuff, or could one simply back it up first, restore, get it ‘geniusly’ fixed at Apple, and THEN restore it to the Jbroken version????

Man! Now that I’ve typed all that, it really doesn’t seem to be worth all the hassle!

Posted by dOiTdiGiTaL on July 27, 2010 at 10:24 AM (PDT)

6

^#3

Show me where the “other carrier” can “allow” me to use whatever phone I want to use. It’s not up to them to tell me anything as long as I pay my bill on time…

Posted by The Digital Alchemist on July 27, 2010 at 3:21 PM (PDT)

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