Jailbreaking, Part I

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Jailbreaking, Part I

                If you’ve never heard of it before, Jailbreaking Apple devices sounds a lot more evil and immoral than it really is.  Jailbreaking is just the name, but really all that is happening is that one is using some software from the internet to remove restrictions placed on iDevices by Apple.  Apple’s has good intentions, and requires every application on its App Store to be approved by it, in order to protect customers from anything malicious or dangerous in some way.  However, many people think Apple is a bit overprotective, and turn to Jailbreaking to remove all of Apple’s restrictions.

                The main reason people Jailbreak their iPhones, iPods or iPads is because they want to download Apps that aren’t available in the App Store, for whatever reason.  These often include games by other companies, such as Nintendo, which Apple quite obviously will never make a deal with, because Nintendo is one of their direct competitors.  As a result, no Nintendo game will ever be available on the App Store.  The only other major reason for Jailbreaking is because people want to Unlock their iDevices, which means that they can switch cell phone companies at their will, and are no longer restricted to their contracts.  Actually, Unlocked devices are sold to the public in some areas, such as Canada.  However, these aren’t available in most areas, so people turn to Jailbreaking to solve this problem.

                In addition, many Apps that cost money on the App Store can be obtained for free on replacement app stores that become available after Jailbreaking, and for this reason people Jailbreak to participate in piracy.  However, this is usually not the case, but the legality of this issue went all the way to the Supreme Court.  There are two main arguments in this struggle.  The first is that iDevices are Apple products, and therefore Apple has the right to place any kind of restrictions they please onto the devices.  People agreeing with this argument believe that Jailbreaking is using the device in ways that it was not meant to be used, and that this shouldn’t be legal.  The second argument is that one purchased the device, and they fully own it, so they should be able to do anything they want with it.  People agreeing with this argument believe that they are using their device’s full capabilities, and Apple shouldn’t have the right to restrict this.

                The Supreme Court ruled Jailbreaking and Unlocking of devices legal, basically agreeing with the second argument above.  However, this is still a controversial issue, and the issue of piracy is still handled on a case-to-case basis, as the Supreme Court case deals only with the argument between hackers and Apple.  For example, it is generally agreed that downloading a Nintendo game for free after Jailbreaking is piracy.  However, many Jailbreakers argue that this should be allowed, as they own the original Nintendo games on different systems, and these games aren’t even available on the iDevices.  Therefore, they are basically using a game they already own, simply on a different system.  Is this reasonable?  That is the question.