Library of Congress updates DCMA, jailbreaking/rooting is officially 'legal'

[wuyanks]

Rooting and Jailbreaking have, for the longest time, found itself in a legal grey area. Proponents maintain the position that since they own their devices, they can alter them as they please. And opponents (usually large corporations) believe their technology would be at risk if users could alter their phones at a "superuser" level. The Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA), the legislation specifically designed to deal with issues such as this, had never addressed the phone "hacking", until now. Today, a slew of DMCA exemptions were added, one of which exempted rooting/jailbreaking from being considered "copyright infringement."

Computer programs that enable wireless telephone handsets to execute software applications, where circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of enabling interoperability of such applications, when they have been lawfully obtained, with computer programs on the telephone handset.

This DMCA exemption for rooting in no way legally obligates smartphone manufacturers to provide their phones unlocked and rooted. This merely provides an exemption in the DMCA for users to legally root. So, I guess we hammered home the point, that rooting your phone is officially not illegal. I wonder if this in any way will change the policies of the four big US wireless providers, who have always opted for "locked-down" phones and considered rooting against contract terms. Furthermore, it'll be interesting to see how the major smartphone manufacturers respond to the news. Check out the official Press Release here.

via Engadget
source Library of Congress DMCA

[searayman]

glad i am officially not breaking the law....

[kodiak799]

Interesting, though I never expected VZW or Motorola to go after rooters in the courts.

But I wonder what the implications are for locked bootloaders now, in particular "bricking" your phone if you attempt to root it.

Also, wonder if this will change anything as far as the warranty with a rooted phone? I would guess it's still within VZW's right to include it as a violation of the warranty, even if the act itself is not illegal

[wuyanks]

Interesting, though I never expected VZW or Motorola to go after rooters in the courts.

But I wonder what the implications are for locked bootloaders now, in particular "bricking" your phone if you attempt to root it.

Also, wonder if this will change anything as far as the warranty with a rooted phone? I would guess it's still within VZW's right to include it as a violation of the warranty, even if the act itself is not illegal

good points. i do believe VZ can still claim rooting as a warranty violation. i guess we'll have to wait and see.

[Martin030908]

its only right... these are OUR devices we paid for

[pc747]

Man so there goes the stigma, people who jailbroke/root can no longer feel like a rebel.
Oh well does that mean we can bang on motorola for the encrypted bootloop.

[Martin030908]

so the encrypted bootloader is hindering our legal right? lol

a guy can dream can't he?

[BasilofBakerStreet]

So will cell phone makers with locked bootloaders give out how to unlock it due to this?

Will cell phone makers be considered breaking the law by locking bootloaders?

[wuyanks]

So will cell phone makers with locked bootloaders give out how to unlock it due to this?

Will cell phone makers be considered breaking the law by locking bootloaders?

my interpretation: these changes give the consumer the right to root/jailbreak, nothing more. i.e. Motorola can't take you to court for rooting.

[BasilofBakerStreet]

So will cell phone makers with locked bootloaders give out how to unlock it due to this?

Will cell phone makers be considered breaking the law by locking bootloaders?

my interpretation: these changes give the consumer the right to root/jailbreak, nothing more. i.e. Motorola can't take you to court for rooting.

I understand that but is the act of hindering someone from being able to root/jailbreak now illegal because they are stoping us from what the DCMA now says is legal.
On the same note is this retro-active (i.e. Droid X's), or does this mean from today on?