Jailbreaking May Become Illegal This Year

The act of jailbreaking electronic devices was made legal by the U.S govt back on July 26th 2010. The freedom has been enjoyed over the past 2 years! The A5 untethered jailbreak just came out and brought a lot of excitement. But EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) states that this freedom could be lost if something is not done quickly.

apple v eff Jailbreaking May Become Illegal This Year

They point out that Copyright offices need to hear from people who are dependent upon the ability to write, use or tinker independent software for electronic devices. If you want to keep enjoying the freedom then you need to submit your comments in this online form.

These quick questions have been included by them that you may want to address:

1. Which jailbreaking exemption are you supporting—smartphones/tablets, video game consoles, or both?

2. What’s your background (i.e., are you a developer, hobbyist, academic, independent researcher, user, etc.)?

3. What device do you want to ensure you have the legal authority to jailbreak?

4. Please explain why you want to jailbreak this device. What limitations do you face if you aren’t able to jailbreak it? Is there software you couldn’t run, computing capabilities you wouldn’t have, cool things you couldn’t do, etc.?

5. If you’re a developer, did an online application store or console manufacturer reject your app or game? If so, what reasons did they give?

6. Is there anything else you want to tell the Copyright Office?

Note: Where the form says “Comment number(s) of proposed classes of works to which you are responding,” enter a “3” if you’re writing about game consoles or a “5” if you’re writing about smartphones or tablets.