News - Jailbreaking iPhones declared legal

[HEXUS]

Modifying iPhones to use unauthorised apps is ‘legal’ but Apple warns of problems.

Read more.

[PC4Free]

I'm not an iPhone user, but it should be legal - You bought the hardware. Acer doesn't stop you installing Linux on its laptops.

*Sent from my Android phone *

[marshalex]

I'm not an iPhone user, but it should be legal - You bought the hardware. Acer doesn't stop you installing Linux on its laptops.

*Sent from my Android phone *

completely agree, most android manufacturers accept that users root their handsets, but just don't support the consequences if it goes wrong, which is fair enough. why do apple have to always try and be awkward about everything!

[mightymouse]

yay! i pay for it so i should be able to choose what or how i wanna use it albeit it has to be legal.

[Spud1]

To be fair, this does only clarify the situation - Apple have never (to my knowledge) tried to prosecute anyone for jailbreaking, and have only invalidated warranties..which is perfectly reasonable. I also think its reasonable for them to try and prevent it in their software updates, something else which is still legal and just for them to do (since jailbreaks by their very nature modify apple software or take advantage of bugs, right?)

I don't intend to jailbreak my iphone (if I did that..I may as well buy an android phone), but I suppose this is good clarification for those that do.

[Steve]

As people have said, this pretty much reaffirms what was already known.

On the subject of jailbreaking/rooting voiding a warranty. In my not-so-humble opinion, if a hardware fault develops on a rooted phone, the fact that it is/was rooted should have absolutely no bearing on whether the warranty will be honoured.

[chis]

And yet, a product encouraging a not-dissimilar use on a gaming device is ruled illegal. Guess I should give Apple my money for a portable gaming device then. (What? Use it as a PHONE? Honestly, you jest? )

[Saracen]

It is worth pointing out that while this ruling might affect the legal status in the UK, it doesn't affect it anywhere else. US copyright law and UK/EU copyright law have lots of similarities, but aren't the same.

[Saracen]

As people have said, this pretty much reaffirms what was already known.

On the subject of jailbreaking/rooting voiding a warranty. In my not-so-humble opinion, if a hardware fault develops on a rooted phone, the fact that it is/was rooted should have absolutely no bearing on whether the warranty will be honoured.

True, but if unauthorised hacks make the phone unstable, why should it be down to Apple to sort out a problem not of their making?

You can, for instance, thoroughly mess up a PC operating system purely by software changed (dodgy software, driver clashes, etc), so if something affected the phone's OS, I can't see how it's Apple's responsibility or problem.

If so, I'd expect a phone to go back for a warranty claim, and if the problem turned out to be jail-breaking rather than a hardware fault, I'd expect the consumer to get a charge for the inspection, and/or restoration to default condition.