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EFF Fights to Keep Phone Jailbreaking Legal

The Electronic Freedom Foundation last week filed a petition with the Librarian of Congress and the Copyright Office to extend and expand six different exemptions to the DMCA, covering everything from the right to bypass car DRM -- to the right to continue tinkering with games no longer supported by the developers. In a blog post the EFF notes the group also urged the Librarian of Congress “to extend and expand the exemption that allows you to ‘jailbreak’ your phone from those restrictions, without running afoul of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).”

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In January of last year unlocking your cellphone technically became illegal after the Librarian of Congress removed it from the DMCA exception list.

After significant clamor, Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Charles Grassley (R-IA) introduced the "Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act (pdf), which made unlocking one's cell phone technically legal again, though it punted on the uglier problems inherent in the DMCA.

Among those problems is the fact that concerns citizens and groups like the EFF have to return to the Copyright Office and Librarian of Congress to argue common sense points over and over again every three years -- thus the EFF's renewed exemption request.

"EFF fought for—and received—an exemption to cover jailbreaking phones in 2010 and 2012," states the group. "But thanks to the frustrating way DMCA exemptions are considered, groups like EFF have to return to the Copyright Office and Librarian of Congress every three years and argue the case anew. This is an unnecessary drain on the public—after all, it's not like the arguments against jailbreaking have gotten any better—but we hope to use the opportunity to renew the rule for phones and expand it to tablets as well."
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pandora
Premium Member
join:2001-06-01
Outland

pandora

Premium Member

Good luck EFF

Appointees of this administration seem to be favorably disposed to DRM and copyright owners. I'd be surprised if much changes.

PlusOne
@50.182.138.x

PlusOne

Anon

Re: Good luck EFF

said by pandora:

Appointees of this administration seem to be favorably disposed to DRM and copyright owners. I'd be surprised if much changes.

Administrations back to George Washington have supported strong copyright laws. The details have changed over the decades, but copyright laws have been supported ever since.
Kearnstd
Space Elf
Premium Member
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ

Kearnstd

Premium Member

Re: Good luck EFF

Back then and until corporations and greed drove copyright law we had logical terms and copyright policy. Today's copyright regime is oppressive, anti-consumer, anti-artist, pro-corporate garbage.
MaynardKrebs
We did it. We heaved Steve. Yipee.
Premium Member
join:2009-06-17

MaynardKrebs

Premium Member

So the US is trying to be a responsible player by locking phones?

Gimme a break.

75% of all phones sold in the US are made by non-US companies, so why not open the floodgates? Who's it gonna hurt?

franklinn
@50.243.146.x

franklinn

Anon

has anyone ever been busted?

i do know the current exemption allow jailbreak phones but not tablets. but has anyone ever in history been arrested, gone to jail, been charged, fined, etc. for jailbreaking their tablet?

seems pretty idiotic to me to have a law that never gets enforced.

BonezX
Basement Dweller
Premium Member
join:2004-04-13
Canada

1 edit

BonezX

Premium Member

Re: has anyone ever been busted?

said by franklinn :

seems pretty idiotic to me to have a law that never gets enforced.

what happens if it's suddenly enforced ?, or lets say you were caught for something that was minor and the rarely enforced law was used to make it a major issue.
quote:
ADVISORY

BY DECREE OF THE LIBRARIAN OF CONGRESS

IT SHALL HENCEFORCE BE ORDERED THAT AMERICANS SHALL NOT UNLOCK THEIR OWN SMARTPHONES.

PENALTY: In some situations, first time offenders may be fined up to $500,000, imprisoned for five years, or both. For repeat offenders, the maximum penalty increases to a fine of $1,000,000, imprisonment for up to ten years, or both.*
that is the law, and the punishment is defined there in, the punishment is GLORIOUSLY excessive in all sense of the word considering the action(s), and the potential for abuse is quite high.
Rekrul
join:2007-04-21
Milford, CT

Rekrul

Member

We need a blanket exemption...

What we need is a permanent, blanket exception for tinkering with or changing hardware products that we've paid for. No more of this "You don't really own the stuff you paid for" crap.

caster
@198.41.85.x

caster

Anon

Re: We need a blanket exemption...

we need to get of the cell loading there firmware and doing sim locks as well.

Buying a phone should be tied to plan.

Cal
join:2014-04-23

Cal to Rekrul

Member

to Rekrul
This.