The Electronic Front Foundation is appealing to the U.S. Copyright Office in an effort to exempt rooting and jailbreaking from the law that includes them among the prohibited practices for circumventing methods that protect copyrighted content on tablets and smartphones . “Anything that is not approved by the manufacturer is not necessarily illegal,” the nonprofit digital rights organization notes.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was enacted in the US in the early 2000s - at the time of the great battle between record companies and Hollywood against "piracy" - and prohibits the public distribution of any media developed to circumvent methods that protect copyrighted content (and may also apply to software).
The EFF's proposed exception to the 2015 DMCA law concerns circumventing methods that protect firmware on iOS, Android, and Windows Phone in order to run legally obtained programs.
The EFF indicates in its request to the US patent office that CyanogenMod, a free version of Android, is installed on more than 10 million devices in the US (as of December 2013). In the same year, Cydia, the alternative and "banned" app store, which requires jailbreaking iOS to be installed, made apps available on 23 million iPhones and iPads in the US.
Almost all portable computing devices in the US are locked down to prevent the execution of perfectly legitimate software or the installation of an alternative operating system, the Foundation explains.
The bootloader, the software that runs when the device starts up, requires the encrypted signature of the pre-installed operating system to start.
Additionally, the software that comes with the device includes security controls that limit what apps can run or prevent third-party software from running at all. This means that only software that carries Apple's encrypted approval from the iTunes Store can run, affecting 42.1% of smartphones in the US (June 2014) and 51% of tablets.
Similarly, on Android, restrictions on developer access (root access) prevent many functions from being performed on these devices, the firmware prohibits the installation of an alternative system. The only way to bypass these restrictions is jailbreak in the case of Apple and root on Android.
Why do they root, why do they Jailbreak?
Analyzing the reasons why bypassing the protections included in iOS, Android, and Windows Phone should not be considered illegal, the EFF cites some of the lawful uses:
Android blocks apps that act as a firewall to prevent other apps from leaking personal data, as well as software to create virtual private networks (VPNs) that encrypt data packets being transferred. Android users also can't delete apps that come pre-installed on their system, even though they waste power, reduce battery life, or send personal information to advertisers.
Apple device users face even more restrictions, the EFF notes. The iTunes Store does not accept apps that are labeled “offensive” or “marijuana-related.” Additionally, users will never see apps that compete with an Apple or that were not accepted into the Apple store for various reasons, and they do not have an alternative app store.
It is also noted that manufacturers are usually slow to release operating system updates and fixes for discovered backdoors, leaving users vulnerable to attacks.
Regarding jailbreaking, the EFF states that the required copying of firmware or part of it should be considered legal since it serves the purpose of running third-party software that was legally obtained. It is noted that since the Office made jailbreaking on smartphones an exception to the DMCA legislation, their sales have not been affected, on the contrary, they have increased exponentially. The exception should be extended to all platforms and tablets, the EFF concludes.
Read also about the European Free Software Foundation's action with the characteristic title "Free your Android" or about Spark, a tablet with a free character. You can also read about the passion with which jailbreak experts engage in escape operations from Apple's shackles.
Source: tech.in.gr
