DMCA Leagalizes Video Game and Phone Jailbreaking as Fair Use

148w ago - The Electronic Frontier Foundation recently won a DMCA ruling that, under most 'fair use' circumstances, no longer makes it illegal to hack and jailbreak devices including video games and portable phones including Apple's iPhone.

Essentially consumers shouldn't need Apple's approval for everything you put in your device just because the device itself was made by Apple, much like you don't need HP's approval for the paper you put in their printer or Serta's approval for who can sleep on your mattress.

WorthPlaying.com and phoenixfire425 via our Forums HERE expanded on this ruling, to quote:

"In addition to jailbreaking, other exemptions announced Monday would:

• allow owners of used cell phones to break access controls on their phones in order to switch wireless carriers.
• allow people to break technical protections on video games to investigate or correct security flaws.
• allow college professors, film students and documentary filmmakers to break copy-protection measures on DVDs so they can embed clips for educational purposes, criticism, commentary and noncommercial videos.
• allow computer owners to bypass the need for external security devices called dongles if the dongle no longer works and cannot be replaced."