| Last week, the U.S. Librarian of Congress ruled that those who defeat the digital protections of today’s smart-phones for non-infringing purposes can not be threatened by the anti-circumvention portion of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). In short, regardless of how little Apple and other companies may like it, you’re welcome to jailbreak your phone to install third-party apps not offered by the Apple Store. You’re just as free to then unlock your phone for use with another carrier. (Jailbreaking and unlocking are not the same thing. Jailbreaking opens the phone so that you can access and modify portions of the phone that are normally off-limits. Unlocking is a step further that allows you to use it with a different carrier.) |