Who owns your mobile phone or mobile computer? What does “ownership” actually mean?
If you own it, does that mean you can do with it what you want? Are you allowed to change some or more of its software? Can you install what you want?
If you really own what you paid for, the answer is of course “yes, you can” (but don’t come complainin’, it’s at your own risk).
However, many providers, and most notoriously, Apple, would like to see things differently.
They think you don’t “own” your hardware, you just have the right to use it. Same thing? Not quite.
According to Apple and others, when you buy their hardware, you should only install software, Apps, or other stuff that they approve off (and for which they receive some money).
How does that work? Well, you may technically own the hardware, but the software (including the operating system, or any firmware that allows you to really use the hardware), is never really owned by the buyer. The buyer only gets a license, a right to use.
And that right to use can, and almost always is, made conditional. You agreed to those conditions when you clicked the “I agree” button on every bit of licensed software installed on your hardware.
Obviously, there’s never any real choice – successfully installing the software can only happen if you “agree” with the text of the license, which, of course, you have read and understood thoroughly (if you did, give me a shout, I wouldn’t mind knowing which part of my birthright I signed away as well).
But now, freedom beckons.
The Register of Copyrights of the US Congress has decided that circumventing or breaking free from the technical restrictions used by the likes of Apple to prevent you from installing non-officially approved Apps is not illegal, and does not expose you to the draconian penalties imposed on breach of copyright as provided under the copyright enforcement laws (in the words of those horrible cinema movies about copyright theft, you are no longer a terrible criminal, putting thousands of jobs in the creative industry at risk).
How?
Because, as long as you do it for yourself, to install a program that you otherwise can use legitimately, jailbreaking is considered “fair use”.
Basically, you own not only the hardware, but also, to a certain extent, the firmware installed on it. The manufacturer cannot stop you from choosing yourself which software to install (or not install), and they cannot force you to pay for only “approved” apps.
Something tells me that this would have an important effect on business models used for products like Apps, but also for enabling software.
It is an interesting contribution to the overall debate: do IP rights enhance or limit innovation?
It seems that, in this case, limiting the scope of IP rights would promote innovation. It may not be the kind of innovation Apple or another major player particularly desires, but as far as I can recall, nobody appointed them as gatekeepers.
If only for that reason, the decision to hand owners of hardware a “get out of Jail Free” card is to be cheered.