Jailbreaking is Illegal, says Apple
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If you read any sort of tech blog you have well noticed today posts about Apple stating "Jailbreaking is illegal". I’m not going to go too in depth with what has been said on either side of this, I am simply going to give my personal two cents here. If you want to read the details on it, you can simply Google it. It’s all over the place right now.
Apple is claiming that jailbreaking the iPhone is illegal. It states that jailbreaking is simply hacking the OS that we don’t own. To a degree this is correct,
we don’t technically own the Operating Systems we buy. Basically what happens is, when you buy a operating system you are simply buying the "rights to use that opeating system", you don’t actually own anything. For example if you walk out tomorrow and buy Windows Vista from BestBuy. That is still technically Windows’s property, you simply rent the ability to use it. Because of this, Apple says since iPhone users are just basically renting the rights to use iPhone OS, it is illegal for us to jailbreak and change default settings. I suppose the Dev Team that creats QuickPwn and such may be breaking some sort of law technically, but the average user I think not.
The way I see it if I pay the hundreds of dollars to buy an iPhone, I should have the right to do anything I want to with it! If I decide I want a $400 paperweight that is my right when I give that cashier my money. If I want to take my iPhone completely apart and use it as a damn chandelier it should be my choice, my right! Unfortunately Apple doesn’t see it this way, as you can imagine. Here recently Apple has had a grand ol’ time throwing around how this and that are illegal, and how doing this is copyright infringement or a violation of Terms & Conditions. Apple has thrown out a lot of threats by flexing their legal muscle, but honestly, what are they going to do about it?
That is the largest question in my mind surrounding this entire topic. What does Apple actually plan to do about us jailbreaking? I jailbroke my phone, and I will fully admit to it. I consider it my property that I will do with it what I will, simple as that. What is Apple going to do? Send the FBI door-to-door asking us to see our iPhone and check to see if we have Applications installed that aren’t from the App Store? Apps that SHOULD be available to us that we are forced to jailbreak to obtain. No, I don’t expect anyone knocking on my door, I don’t expect anyone to do anything because Apple can’t do anything. People have been hacking and unlocking and jailbreaking any electronic we possibly can since it’s been an option. My PSP is modded to play ROMs, my Wii is modded to play ROMs, my iPhone is jailbroke. I like to have everything I possibly can, and if the manufacturer can’t offer it to me, then damnit I will find some way to get it.
I think the entire ordeal comes down to two things. 1) Jailbreak Apps prove all the things that Apple COULD have given us with the iPhone 3G and chose not to (more on this in another post I already have written in my head). and 2) Money. It all comes down to money. Apple flexes their legal muscle with Palm because heaven-forbid another company might be able to compete with Apple. It would be an absolute autrocity for anyone or any company to challenge Apple and their glorious reign over the cell phone world.
Leave your thoughts and concerns below in a comment and let me know what you think on this subject.
