New gov't rules allow unapproved iPhone apps

Target Platforms Mobile
1

I wonder how this will influence us all.

Fortunately you have to be technically savvy to jailbreak otherwise everyone would get pirated apps for free.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100726/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_digital_copyright

New gov’t rules allow unapproved iPhone apps

Owners of the iPhone will be able to legally break electronic locks on their devices in order to download software applications that haven’t been approved by Apple Inc., according to new government rules announced Monday.

The decision to allow the practice commonly known as “jailbreaking” is one of a handful of new exemptions from a 1998 federal law that prohibits people from bypassing technical measures that companies put on their products to prevent unauthorized uses. The Library of Congress’ Copyright Office reviews and authorizes exemptions every three years to ensure that the law does not prevent certain non-infringing use of copyright-protected material.

In addition to jailbreaking, other exemptions announced Monday would:

• allow owners of used cell phones to break access controls on their phones in order to switch wireless carriers.

• allow people to break technical protections on video games to investigate or correct security flaws.

• allow college professors, film students and documentary filmmakers to break copy-protection measures on DVDs so they can embed clips for educational purposes, criticism, commentary and noncommercial videos.

• allow computer owners to bypass the need for external security devices called dongles if the dongle no longer works and cannot be replaced.

2

Yeah i saw that in the news …

Fortunately, United States of America doesn’t represent the whole planet Earth.

Er, not anymore :roll:
You just basically have to :

  • google search the key word
  • download a program
  • connect your iphone to your pc
  • hit a button

And it’s over.

Also, call me paranoid or whatever, with the recent international not-so-secret reunion about fighting piracy and collecting data about illegal downloads, I’m sure they got something under their sleeve.

This news just feels like a smile hiding a knife.
It’s too big for not having a counterpart.

3

In Canada there was a recent law passed that made it illegal to break any digital locking mechanisms.

Which is a pretty strong trumps all card in the other direction. It doesn’t matter how difficult the lock is to break, so long as it’s there and specified not to.

It’s still illegal to pirate software, and so the jailbreaking feels more like apple anti-competitive rulings than piracy rulings.

4

Its definitely an apple countermeasure as there is no law that allows the FTC and competition regulation to disallow apples monopolistic measure on the appstore. As they on the other hand own more than half the mobile app market, there commonly would need to be such a hook … consequence: they just kill apples lock how to spread it.

cydia will definitely be happy … for us it makes no difference cause apple will still blacklist your whole account should you release there too.