Apple iPhone Jailbreak; Illegal or Not?

The iPhone truly has a set of rules all its own.  Have you tried to obtain an iPhone while under contract with AT&T already?  They have about 50 hoops for you to jump through, making it nearly impossible to purchase a handset for less than $500.  Apple and AT&T have restricted the terms on the iPhone like no other handset sold before in order to turn a decent profit.  But now Apple wants to tell its customers what do to with their hardware once they purchase it.  Seem too far fetched to be true, it’s not!

The iPhone was designed to use software only from the Apple iTunes store, which would allow Apple to control what apps were available and which were not, and also turn a decent profit in the process.  The ‘Jailbreaking’ of the iPhone allows users to use applications that are obtained by other means outside the iTunes app store.  

Essential applications that the iPhone can’t do out of the box include video recording, turn-by-turn directions and free tethering to a laptop.  Supporters of the jailbreak see the iPhone more of a handheld computer or a gateway device to the Internet.  They feel users should be able to put any applications they want on the device. 

This isn’t purely a groundswell of pirates looking to make a quick buck or steal some code.  Major players around the Internet are voicing support for the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s fight to have the U.S. copyright office allow jailbreaking.   The latest company to voice their support is Mozilla, developer of the popular Firefox web browser.  

“This is not us criticizing Apple, But it’s the principle of the thing. Choice is good for users, and choice shouldn’t be criminalized. The Internet is too important for all of us for that.” said Mozilla CEO John Lilly in an interview with ComputerWorld. 

Do you think Apple has right to tell you what to do with its device?  Absolutely not!  I have not jailbroken my iPhone because it is still under warranty, however after that is up, I assure you I will.  I loved to tether my old Palm Treo 750 and shoot video on the fly.  My biggest gripe is with the tethering.  I regularly need to jump on my laptop on the go, and now I can’t with my iPhone.  

Why would they not have a $0.99 app for this?  Apple and AT&T plan on charging their users an extra $30 to tether their iPhone.  Customers already pay $30 for the unlimited (oops, 5gb) data plan, now they want another $30 on top of that?  No dice!  My monthly bill would skyrocket to near $120 per month for a phone that is on the cheapest voice plan available from AT&T.

According to iPhoneDownloadBlog.com, Every three years, the office and Library of Congress ask if anyone has any suggestions for revising the DCMA. This year, the Electronic Frontier Foundation is petitioning for the privilege of hacking smart-phones, which could allow iPhone owners, for example, to legally jailbreak their iPhones.

Apple should not tell their customers what do to with equipment they purchased.  The iPhone is not under a lease!  Is Apple being a corporate bully, or do they have rhyme and reason for their choice, I want to hear your side of the story!