Jailbreaking iPhones is Legal Under DMCA but Jailbreaking iPads is Not

Thread: Jailbreaking iPhones is Legal Under DMCA but Jailbreaking iPads is Not
Akshay Masand 05:56 AM Today


According to the folks over at ArsTechnica, the latest round of exemptions added to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) may prove to be problematic for iOS owners who unlock or jailbreak their device. For those of you, who don’t know, signed into law in 1998, the DMCA bans the production and dissemination of technology designed to circumvent digital rights management systems. The broad-based law gives the Librarian of Congress to power to add exemptions to the law every three years. The latest rounds of exemptions were announced this past week and will go into effect on October 28.

Among the exemptions is one that lets users jailbreak their smartphones but not their tablets. This Librarian decided not to include tablets because they felt the “tablet” category of devices was not well-defined and could include devices ranging from e-readers, to iPads, and even tablet PCs. Unfortunately, news like this won’t bode well with the jailbreak community which releases tools that work with both the iPhone and iPad.

This time around, the Librarian also decided to revoke the exemption allowing customers to unlock their device and use them on a new carrier. The new provision also lets you unlock any smartphone purchased before January 2013 but any phone purchased after this date can only be unlocked with the permission of the carrier. The Librarian also noted that carriers have policies that allow for unlocking and felt there was no compelling reason why customers should be allowed to unlock their phones themselves.

For people who are active in the jailbreak community, you probably won’t be thrilled to hear the news. We’ll have to see how this affects the community and what will happen going forward when the exemptions go into effect.

Source: ArsTechnica

iPhone's, iPod's, iPads and Unlocking.

The U.S. Library of Congress has ruled that jailbreaking the iPad and unlocking iPhones purchased after January 2013 is no longer legal.

Jailbreaking iPhones is still allowed under exemptions to the DMCA that will be in effect for three years.

Computer programs that enable wireless telephone handsets to execute lawfully obtained software applications, where circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of enabling interoperability of such applications with computer programs on the telephone handset.

This exemption is a modification of the proponents’ proposal. It permits the circumvention of computer programs on mobile phones to enable interoperability of non-vendor- approved software applications (often referred to as “jailbreaking”), but does not apply to tablets – as had been requested by proponents – because the record did not support it.

Unlocking
In addition the new exemptions only allow for phones you already have, as well as those purchased before January, to be unlocked. Phones purchased after January 2013 can only be unlocked with the carrier's permission.

Computer programs, in the form of firmware or software, that enable a wireless telephone handset originally acquired from the operator of a wireless telecommunications network or retailer no later than ninety days after the effective date of this exemption to connect to a different wireless telecommunications network, if the operator of the wireless communications network to which the handset is locked has failed to unlock it within a reasonable period of time following a request by the owner of the wireless telephone handset, and when circumvention is initiated by the owner, an individual consumer, who is also the owner of the copy of the computer program in such wireless telephone handset, solely in order to connect to a different wireless telecommunications network, and such access to the network is authorized by the operator of the network.

This exemption is a modification of the proponents’ proposal. It permits the circumvention of computer programs on mobile phones to enable such mobile phones to connect to alternative networks (often referred to as “unlocking”), but with limited applicability. In order to align the exemption to current market realities, it applies only to mobile phones acquired prior to the effective date of the exemption or within 90 days thereafter.

PS3/Game Consoles
The Library of Congress rejected a proposed exemption that would allow for jailbreaking of game consoles.

Because the Register determined that the evidentiary record failed to support a finding that the inability to circumvent access controls on video game consoles has, or over the course of the next three years likely would have, a substantial adverse impact on the ability to make noninfringing uses, the Register declined to recommend the proposed class.


This is quite unfortunate news for those in the jailbreak and unlocking community. We'll keep you updated with any more developments.