Apple: iPhone jailbreaking violates our copyright | Apple – CNET News
CNet gives a quick overview of Apple’s argument that jailbreaking an iPhone is violates their copyright. The EFF rightly points out that jailbreaking is pretty consistent with “tinkering” cultures.
The EFF’s argument is that jailbreaking your iPhone is protected under fair-use doctrines, and that the Copyright Office should grant an exemption because “the culture of tinkering or hacking, if you prefer is an important part of our innovation economy.” But Apple’s response is that few users of jailbroken iPhones actually jailbroke it themselves; instead, they downloaded software created by other parties to make that happen.
The problem with Apple’s argument is that few tinkerers in other areas build their own modifications. Instead, many different pieces come together to make something new and personal (think about the custom car with the oversized exhaust pipe and fins). In this light, jailbreaking is opening the iPhone up to just this kind of tinkering, which is the kind of open access many expect.