Is it legal to Root or Jailbreak your Android or IPhone? Here are the facts.

Society has been changed forever. There is no going back. Smartphones are the new craze and it doesn't look like this trend will change anytime soon. I will admit that I own one myself. The capabilities of the top of the line smartphones is pretty much unlimited these days. We have access to vast amounts of information and its all at our fingertips. Do you have some sort of problem? Either socially, organizationally, family, financially, or business oriented? Well guess what? There is an app for that! Almost any problem you have can be addressed by your trusty, and typically expensive, little pocket dweller that we call smartphones. It doesnt matter if its an Android, IPhone, or Blackberry. They all seem to keep our lives running and to keep us all in touch. So now that we have these amazing tools in our hands, what are we going to do with them? We are going to hack them of course! With todays technologically advanced youth there was simply no way that hacking of smartphones would not happen. You can take an already amazing device and turn it into an even more personalized and more powerful version of its original self. There are without a doubt in my mind many benefits to JailBreaking (IPhone) and Rooting (Android) our smartphones. But for most people it seems like a grey area. Something that they could get in trouble for. So, let me dispel all the rumors.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) governs the rule making on exemptions from prohibition on circumvention of technological measures that control access to copyrighted work.......yeah dont worry I had to read that twice as well. So basically the DMCA is an act that says what types of technology can be hacked or cracked WITHOUT legal ramifications. The DMCA is reviewed triannually and as of July 26th, 2010 the rules were finally changed in favor of Cracking smartphones. The biggest change was about the software and apllications on smartphones. It was made legal for someone to write software for and even take small parts of a smartphones software and to use that software

"for the sole purpose of enabling interoperability of such applications, when they have been lawfully obtained, with computer programs on the telephone handset."

So in plain english that means that once you buy that new top of the line smartphone, you are well within your rights as an owner of the device to play around with any of the software on the device. Of course when I say "play around with" I mean that in a literal way. You can change it and even use it on your phone as a program and then give that program to another buddy to test the "Interoperability" of the software. But there is a catch! (Isnt there always?!) That catch is that the software that you just used is copyrighted by a company. You couldnt earn money from that software that you took off your phone. You couldnt go start a new line of smartphones with that since you took it, for example, from your IPhone. That software is owned by Apple. You couldnt relabel it and sell it. But for the youth of today that little change is enough. Now they can crack, hack, mix, and match the software on there phones without worrying about legal ramifications.

The other ruling dealt more with cellphones in general and has been part of the DMCA exemptions since December 2006. It states that

"Computer programs, in the form of firmware or software, that enable used wireless telephone handsets to connect to a wireless telecommunications network, when circumvention is initiated by the owner of the copy of the computer program solely in order to connect to a wireless telecommunications network and access to the network is authorized by the operator of the network."

So again in English this is saying that once you have bought a cellphone, you have the right to circumvent any software or firmware on it in order to unlock it for another cell phone companies services. That is why you can buy a phone from company 1, and as long as it is compatible with company 2's network, then you can unlock your cellphone and switch to company 2.

Now within all of these confusing rules there is one more HUGE catch. The DMCA in NO WAY stops companies from protecting there copyrighted material. All companies have the right to protect there software on the phones they put out. As well as, they can refuse to warranty your product if you decide you want to play around with all the ones and zeros running around inside it. If you are into hacking then this is no surprise to you. Most hackers are used to the fact that they have no warranty and could at any minute be out one to five hundred dollars if they brick (Mess up the software on the phone so bad that it cannot be fixed) there smartphone. So know this, cellphone companies will ALWAYS be coming up with new ways to keep us out of there software and stuck with the particular cell service they want. But dont worry, there will be an army of hackers that will come to our rescue. Hacking there way threw that new top of the line smartphones security, and graciously sharing there work with us on YouTube. It may be a little dramatic to call them freedom fighters but next time you want to jailbreak an IPhone or Root your Android, you should remember that someone slaved for hours to make that possible. Someone with little to no recognition, that did it simply because they could. So now that you are aware of the rules, go crazy! Do what you want with your smartphones. Just remember to play smart and if you need help doing whatever it is then Google is your best friend.

OH! Dont forget! If this was helpful to you then select useful at the bottom of the article. Comment if you can. Thanks for reading!

Source: http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2010/10-169.html