It is now legal to jailbreak an iPhone. Yes, it voids warranty, but at least it’s allowed! i cant even describe how happy this makes me!!! Yesterday lots of tweets were shooting around after I posted the Wired story of the legal news & everyone was all proud of the USA. It was so sweet to see pride and even patriotism from so many geeks who rarely feel heard/ understood by govt.
This will open up so much for developers — and it deregulates a lot of app dev that Apple was otherwise holding tight reins on for their own profitability. Understandably. But now that cannot happen anymore. That said, I agree with Tarah:
if you’re going to jailbreak your iPhone, you have to respect the hardware that you’ve been given, but it’s up to you to figure out how to create a positive user experience on your own (or with the developer community), because, in my opinion, it comes with a pretty superb user experience upon purchase. Ethically, though, I agree with this decision - if you buy a machine, you should be able to do whatever you want with it, as long as it’s not endangering anyone.
-Tarah (more @ his post: BIG digital rights changes yesterday )
How might this change things immediately for you? theoretically, any phone can now be sold and unlocked on any carrier (if supported)! That means when you travel you can hook up a world phone without contract (sometimes) & a host of other small awesomenesses that should have ALWAYS existed.
Additional Links:
*more formal info on this ruling over @ EFF
*some interesting comments on the Magnussen-Moss Warranty Act @ SlashDot
*Apple’s PR on warranty void etc @ Cult of Mac
