Just in: Unlocking and jailbraking phones now legal in the U.S.

This decision just in: The U.S. Library of Congress, which oversees the Copyright Office, has just announced new rules that effectively legitimize unlocking and jailbreaking of phones.

This is significant, because the ruling states that owners of phones actually do own the phone, rather than just being a licensee of the manufacturer, and thus are allowed to circumvent controls that the manufacturer put in place to limit what is considered fair use of the device.

This opens up, at least in the U.S., choice for phone users with respect to using different wireless carriers as well as installing 3rd party applications from alternate sources, and doing so legally.

More information:

• U.S. Copyright Office
• InformationWeek
• Associated Press

Cheers,

– Terrence