The idea behind this ruling is to remove jailbreaking from being prohibited by the DMCA (Digital Millineum Copyright Act).
This ruling will expire this year which means jailbreaking could go back to being illegal and of course we don`t want that. The EFF is looking to renew this exemption as well as expand it to cover jailbreaking tablets and video games consoles.
How can we, users, help with that? Well, the EFF points out that the US Copyright Office needs to hear from people who benefit from jailbreaking. So, support legalizing jailbreaking and expanding the exemption`s coverage by filling out this online form.
The EFF has included some quick questions you may want to address:
- Which jailbreaking exemption are you supporting—smartphones/tablets, video gameconsoles, or both?
- What’s your background (i.e., are you a developer, hobbyist, academic, independent researcher, user, etc.)?
- What device do you want to ensure you have the legal authority to jailbreak?
- Please explain why you want to jailbreak this device. What limitations do you face if you aren’t able to jailbreak it? Is there software you couldn’t run, computing capabilities you wouldn’t have, cool things you couldn’t do, etc.?
- If you’re a developer, did an online application store or console manufacturer reject your app or game? If so, what reasons did they give?
- Is there anything else you want to tell the Copyright Office?
Note: Where the form says “Comment number(s) of proposed classes of works to which you are responding,” enter a “3” if you’re writing about game consoles or a “5” if you’re writing about smartphones or tablets
Filling the form won`t take much time,but it will make a lot of difference.
