Since It's Legal to Jailbreak Iphone, Does That Mean...

[dougeetx]

.....that it's legal to root an EVO?

U.S. Declares iPhone Jailbreaking Legal, Over Apple’s Objections | Threat Level | Wired.com

 

[dekcufi]

.....that it's legal to root an EVO?

U.S. Declares iPhone Jailbreaking Legal, Over Apple’s Objections | Threat Level | Wired.com

I saw that cnn. I hope I can get vanilla on my phone. Not fond of bloatware.

 

[SilverZero]

I'm guessing e-fuse is still legal as well, though?

 

[Doc]

It is legal to root or jailbreak a device. However, the carrier or phone manufacturer can claim that your warranty is void for doing it.

Doc

 

[Jerzyiroc]

It is legal to root or jailbreak a device. However, the carrier or phone manufacturer can claim that your warranty is void for doing it.

Doc

Yup. I can go buy a brand new Corvette and slap a legal turbo kit on it because it's within my legal right to modify my car. However, if I blow the motor in the process i better not expect Chevy to honor the warranty. They're not required to nor should they be. You're legally allowed to "modify" your phone all you want now. Just don't expect the manufacture or carrier to honor the warranty. Nor should they have to.

 

[Holsum]

Yup. I can go buy a brand new Corvette and slap a legal turbo kit on it because it's within my legal right to modify my car. However, if I blow the motor in the process i better not expect Chevy to honor the warranty. They're not required to nor should they be. You're legally allowed to "modify" your phone all you want now. Just don't expect the manufacture or carrier to honor the warranty. Nor should they have to.

that is a terrible analogy. he isnt placing a new processor in the phone he is unlocking the software giving it the potential it should have had. its like painting your car, which doesnt void your warranty.

 

[Mustachio]

Painting your car is a terrible analogy. That's like putting a case or a skin on the phone. The contract says (I guess) that we aren't to root the phone, so if we do, the contract is void. Nothing illegal about it, but that's not the issue.

 

[scoobdude]

It's like throwing ubuntu on your Windows machine. When I worked for one of the major computer companies we only asked that they put windows it to troubleshooting hardware issues...And that is if it even was a hardware issue. I believe phones should be the same way. Support the hardware unless modified and software only in own form.

Even overlooking is now almost standard as an option in the BIOS. That being said, heat can kill the proc.... but what ever happened to over engineering stuff. But that goes into Howe are a throw away society etc.....

 

[Mikey47]

It's like ordering a steak for take out from Applebee's, then when you don't like it calling up TGI Fridays and complaining and having the TGI Friday's manager drive out to deliver you a new steak and a coupon for a free meal as an apology.

(Sorry, it's not at all like that, but that happened to us two weeks ago -- wife thought I got take out from TGI Fridays, call and complained about how over cooked her steak was, but I really got it from Applebees. I didn't notice until she came in to sit down and eat and had a TGI Fridays box with its red and white waxed paper...).

 

[Jerzyiroc]

that is a terrible analogy. he isnt placing a new processor in the phone he is unlocking the software giving it the potential it should have had. its like painting your car, which doesnt void your warranty.

How is painting a car a better analogy? That makes no sense. Let me make a simpler car analogy... If you turn the boost up on lets say a stock WRX, guess what, your warranty is gone. You're only "unlocking" the potential boost that it "should have had". Or how about I "unlock" the computer and mess with the Air/Fuel ratio? I'm just "unlocking the software giving it the potential it should have had". Doesn't matter, it'll still void the warranty. You can root your phone and give it "potential it should have had" but that's not the point. The point is you're messing around with it beyond how the manufacture originally made it. Hence, voiding your warranty. Should have could have would have it doesnt matter. The bottom line is they made the phone the way they wanted it to. What it "should have" is meaningless.

 

[whats77inaname]

More like if you overwrote the stock ECU on said Vette and made it run lean and it started detonating and blew a rod out the side of the block. No warranty.

 

[meyerweb#CB]

It's really much simpler than any of these analgies. The contract you signed with Sprint when you bought the phone says you can't root it. Period. Do so at your own risk.

This is an issue of contract law, not copyright law.

 

[jpdaballa]

actually its more like if the navigation system in your car could play DVDs but was locked down not too play DVDs because its illegal. so you get rid of whatever is restricting you so you could watch DVDs

although rooting is not illegal

 

[chaosrecords]

It's really much simpler than any of these analgies. The contract you signed with Sprint when you bought the phone says you can't root it. Period. Do so at your own risk.

This is an issue of contract law, not copyright law.

Sprint contracts dont even have the word "root" on them

 

[meyerweb#CB]

No, not root. But it says you can't modify the device in ways that rooting would violate.

 

[zanthor]

The big win here is for the people making software like Unrevoked, those giving us the tools to do this easily. The DMCA made it illegal to bypass protection schemes such as this, and this exclusion opens it up so we can do so. It would never be in a companies best interest to prosecute all the users, but under the DMCA they could issue a takedown notice to the host of Unrevoked and stop us from rooting by removing the tools to do so.

While rooting the phone isn't illegal, under the DMCA providing tools to do so (bypassing protection) is illegal... This carries over in many cases, if you buy a DVD and want to copy it for archival purposes (not piracy, but so you don't need to worry about your kids damaging the media for example) you are legally entitled to do so under fair use laws. That said, every DVD on the planet is encrypted, so finding software that lets you copy them is very difficult, since it's illegal under the DMCA as it bypasses copy protection.