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There is outstanding ambiguity in DMCA and related laws which are used to great effect by companies like Apple. Is it illegal to hack your iPhone? I think not

There is outstanding ambiguity in DMCA and related laws which are used to great effect by companies like Apple. Is it illegal to hack your iPhone? I think not, but one reason I believe Apple has not sued over this yet is they get benefit from not having a clear ruling on the issue.

GHFigs 17y ago
What ambiguity? It isn't illegal to hack your phone. It is illegal to modify and distribute someone else's copyrighted software to do so, though, and that is the only thing that Apple has taken any legal action against.
- eli 17y ago
  Dead wrong. No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title. The DMCA makes it illegal to circumvent DRM with very few exceptions. It doesn't matter if it's for your own personal use. Doesn't even matter if you actually pirate any software. Simply breaking the locks is illegal. In fact, it makes it illegal to simply create or traffic tools that could be used to circumvent DRM (i.e. modchips, but that could describe a lot of tools)
  - jhancock 17y ago
    yep, thanks. And when I refereed to ambiguity, I was being very kind to the laws and industry that support these aspects of the DMCA. I think if our courts upheld the DMCA to throw a person in jail for hacking their own iPhone to get around Apple's App Store we would see a revolt (against the products and the laws). So they don't go after it as they want the threat to remain.
  - GHFigs 17y ago
    I didn't say anything about DRM. Why do you need to break DRM to hack a phone? To access and modify the copyrighted contents. i.e. "work protected under this title". This was covered to death in the last round of DMCA rulemaking. The fact is that you don't have the right to infringe on Apple's copyright, but all existing jailbreak software does exactly that. If you were to hack your phone without infringing on Apple's copyright, they wouldn't have a legal leg to stand on, because as I said, hacking your phone is not illegal.
eli 17y ago
EFF is pushing the Copyright Office to issue an exemption for jailbreaking iPhones and extend the exemption for breaking a SIM lock. (One good reason to send them some money.) As it stands now, it probably is illegal to jailbreak a phone. Apple certainly asserts that it is.
raganwald 17y ago
> There is outstanding ambiguity in DMCA and related laws Sorry, I'm a Canadian. That being said, (a) You folks have this crazy idea that your laws reach around the world so that if someone breaks, say, the password protection for a document format in Russia he should be arrested when he sets foot on American soil, and (b) You folks have been putting a LOT of pressure on our government to bring our laws into compliance with whatever your media companies desire.

GHFigs 17y ago

What ambiguity? It isn't illegal to hack your phone. It is illegal to modify and distribute someone else's copyrighted software to do so, though, and that is the only thing that Apple has taken any legal action against.

eli 17y ago
Dead wrong. No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title. The DMCA makes it illegal to circumvent DRM with very few exceptions. It doesn't matter if it's for your own personal use. Doesn't even matter if you actually pirate any software. Simply breaking the locks is illegal. In fact, it makes it illegal to simply create or traffic tools that could be used to circumvent DRM (i.e. modchips, but that could describe a lot of tools)
- jhancock 17y ago
  yep, thanks. And when I refereed to ambiguity, I was being very kind to the laws and industry that support these aspects of the DMCA. I think if our courts upheld the DMCA to throw a person in jail for hacking their own iPhone to get around Apple's App Store we would see a revolt (against the products and the laws). So they don't go after it as they want the threat to remain.
- GHFigs 17y ago
  I didn't say anything about DRM. Why do you need to break DRM to hack a phone? To access and modify the copyrighted contents. i.e. "work protected under this title". This was covered to death in the last round of DMCA rulemaking. The fact is that you don't have the right to infringe on Apple's copyright, but all existing jailbreak software does exactly that. If you were to hack your phone without infringing on Apple's copyright, they wouldn't have a legal leg to stand on, because as I said, hacking your phone is not illegal.

eli 17y ago

EFF is pushing the Copyright Office to issue an exemption for jailbreaking iPhones and extend the exemption for breaking a SIM lock. (One good reason to send them some money.) As it stands now, it probably is illegal to jailbreak a phone. Apple certainly asserts that it is.

raganwald 17y ago

> There is outstanding ambiguity in DMCA and related laws Sorry, I'm a Canadian. That being said, (a) You folks have this crazy idea that your laws reach around the world so that if someone breaks, say, the password protection for a document format in Russia he should be arrested when he sets foot on American soil, and (b) You folks have been putting a LOT of pressure on our government to bring our laws into compliance with whatever your media companies desire.