Apple Fights To Maintain Control

On Monday July 26th the Library of Congress Copyright Office announced that "jailbreaking" an iPhone does not violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. "Jailbreaking" is the term for opening an iPhone for functions not intended by Apple such as unlocking it for use on a mobile carrier other than AT&T (in the U.S.), or to allow it to run unofficial apps (ones that don't come from the Apple App Store).

The Electronic Frontier Foundation estimates that over 1 million people have performed a "jailbreaking" function on their devices. The Copyright Office's ruling says that this process is considered "fair use."

Apple, which has built its reputation on maintaining tight control of its devices and operating systems, isn't giving up so easily. In an attempt to sidestep the ruling, without directly challenging it, Apple announced two days after the ruling that while jailbreaking an iPhone is not illegal, doing so will void a user's warranty. The exact quote from Apple:

"As we've said before, the vast majority of customers do not jailbreak their iPhones as this can violate the warranty and can cause the iPhone to become unstable and not work reliably."