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Re: Apple Says Jailbreaking iPhones Is Illegal, Dammit
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sat, 14 Feb 2009 08:32:18 -0500
Begin forwarded message: From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com> Date: February 13, 2009 2:25:36 PM EST To: David Farber <dave () farber net> Subject: Re: [IP] Apple Says Jailbreaking iPhones Is Illegal, Dammit Dave, It's interesting to contrast Apple's iPhone attitude with that of Google toward Android on the G1. While Google (and T-Mobile) may not be slaphappy enthusiastic about people jailbreaking G1s, there's been no obvious evidence of any crackdown, other than to close security holes in the course of upgrades. But even more telling is that, essentially for the price of a non-contract G1, you can directly buy from Google the development edition ADP1. This is the G1 hardware with a slightly different Android build, plus unlocked bootloader (which means you load whatever systems you wish) and unlocked SIM capability. Oh yes, there's an artsy graphic on the back cover of the ADP1. This is the phone that Google handed out to their employees recently. Android itself is open source (a few specific standard G1 applications are closed source) -- this means that you can damn well put pretty much any system code you want on an ADP1. And since it's easy to install the ADP1 bootloader (and other even more flexible bootloaders) on a rooted ("jailbreak") G1, the distinction between the G1 and ADP1 can vanish completely. All of the tools you need to build the Android system, and both build and distribute Android apps, are available for free. I set them up initially in ten minutes. Combine this all with Apple's "anal personality" control over iPhone applications, vs. Google's "we're not application cops" attitude (yes, the latter means that users need to take more responsibility), and the contrast in apparent world view between Apple and Google in the mobile space becomes even more stark. --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein lauren () vortex com or lauren () pfir org Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 http://www.pfir.org/lauren Co-Founder, PFIR - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org Co-Founder, NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com - - - On 02/13 13:13, David Farber wrote:
http://i.gizmodo.com/5153101/apple-says-jailbreaking-iphones-is-illegal-dammit Apple Says Jailbreaking iPhones Is Illegal, Dammit By matt buchanan, 11:50 AM on Fri Feb 13 2009, 7,716 views For the first time ever, Apple has said publicly that jailbreaking iPhones is illegal. In comments filed with the US copyright office, Apple says that jailbreaking is copyright infringement and a violation of the DMCA.Every three years, the US Copyright Office has a rulemaking session forthe Digital Millennium Copyright Act, where exemption requests can befiled. For the 2009 session, the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed anexemption request for jailbreaking iPhones for the purposes of interoperability with independent software—i.e., apps not in the App Store. Apple filed these comments (warning, PDF) in opposition, which is the first time it's explicitly said that jailbreaking itself is illegal ('cause copyright infringement is, well, not legal). It gets pretty nasty trashtalking the EFF in parts, and pretty masturbatory talking about how amazing the iPhone is in others (to show how it doesn't need to be opened to foster innovation). But the bottom line, according to Apple, is that the act of jailbreaking itself constitutes copyrightinfringement because it "involves infringing uses of the bootloader andOS, the copyrighted works that are protected by the TPMs being circumvented." The EFF's counter-argument is that "courts have long recognized that copying software while reverse engineering is a fair use when done for purposes of fostering interoperability with independently created software." Apple says, whatever, it's not fair use, you suck.We'll let the lawyers figure it out, but as a betting man, my money's onthe Fruit. [EFF] ------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/ Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
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- Apple Says Jailbreaking iPhones Is Illegal, Dammit David Farber (Feb 13)
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