Jailbreaking now illegal for Tablets and E-Book Readers

[spindlegirl]

This is absolutely insane.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by doubleshuffle

If you're referring to my last post - I just tried to coin the rather inelegant term "Applesoft" to refer to both dominating producers of OSs; also not bashig specifically these two, but it's precisely those that make sense in the context of the quote I was replying to.

But I totally agree with you - it affects everybody.

I can see why you thought I'd singled you out, but what I'm referring to is the way our lopsided thematic pendulum keeps swinging back to one particular (and in this case outcome-irrelevant) company.

That's going to keep happening if we let it because many of us can't seem to grasp any other topic, and because the bored and resentful often troll for defensive responses.

Brand wars are more viscerally satisfying than conceptual speculation, but they won't help us to understand the problem we're about to face.

This development could become a major problem for a lot of us on MR in the next few years. Let's do what we can to analyze and (ideally) fight that outcome.

Originally Posted by spindlegirl

This is absolutely insane.

And like insanity, it feeds on prosaic-sounding rationalizations for eye-widening conclusions. The Final Rule is like a mundane and literal-minded version of Sade's Philosophy in the Bedroom.

[EowynCarter]

Bah, who is going to sue you for jailbreaking your iPhone ?

[Prestidigitweeze]

Imagine how many examples could be made of people who stripped the DRM from their e-Books and stored them on a cloud, or who ripped their blu-ray discs and put them on a local NAS.

Jail-breaking seems to be the casualty of a sweeping approach to a very specific issue. The central issue here seems to be preventing illegal software distribution, which means the title of the article itself is a tad too limiting.

This isn't just a matter of alternative firmware. It actually involves your library.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by EowynCarter

Bah, who is going to sue you for jailbreaking your iPhone ?

That obviously won't happen. But device makers might succeed in scaring end users so that they don't even attempt jailbreaking/rooting/flashing custom ROMs and they might go after the websites who distribute such tools or offer help and advice on such matters.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

That obviously won't happen. But device makers might succeed in scaring end users so that they don't even attempt jailbreaking/rooting/flashing custom ROMs and they might go after the websites who distribute such tools or offer help and advice on such matters.

Exactly, Hans. That's the familiar strategy.

(And now I'll go elsewhere for awhile and stop monopolizing the conversation.)

[Chi Cygni]

So, there will be say, ereader police? Checking devices on the streets? Maybe we will need ereader licence with photo? Give me a break.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Quexos

Nothing is ours if we let corporations have it their way. That's what most people don't realize. Which is what makes piracy a good slap in their face and some taking back of our freedom. ...

The first part is right the second part is wrong. You're trying to link two things that are fundamentally different except in the case of corporations holding copyrights -- and that is assuming by piracy you mean ebook theft.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by crich70

I don't see how it could be enforceable myself. I mean take something like a car for example. If you buy it, you own it. And if you decide later to customize it by getting it repainted or changing out the cassette deck/radio for a CD player then that is your right. I think the same should apply to electronics myself. Next they'll be saying linux is an illegal OS because people remove Windows or whatever OS Apple uses and put it on in their place. It all comes to the same thing. An ebook file is intangible in that you can't touch it. There is no physicality to the book itself, but the reader that you read the book on has physicality. You can see and touch the device itself. And what of those people who build their own computers from parts? Are they to be rounded up and charged with a crime for having decided what they want on their computer and what they don't?

[teh603]

Originally Posted by Quexos

Nothing is ours if we let corporations have it their way.

Sad thing is, corporations could exactly get their way depending on how the election goes. We've got one huge political party here dedicated to ensuring just that, and ensuring that nothing gets in the way of capitalism.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by teh603

Sad thing is, corporations could exactly get their way depending on how the election goes. We've got one huge political party here dedicated to ensuring just that, and ensuring that nothing gets in the way of capitalism.

Such abuses have absolutely nothing to do with capitalism. The opposite, they are restricting the free market and use of private property.

[Prestidigitweeze]

(Sorry to interrupt)

Correct me if I'm wrong, teh603, but it sounds as if you're referring to the corporate libertarian version of capitalism, which does hinge on intellectual property as commandeered by corporate personhood (which itself hinges on the systematic abuse of the 14th Amendment, which was created to guarantee the personhood of African-American human beings), and does (historically) favor the whims of the powerful over the rights of lowly consumers.

This is a political distinction made in a nonpolitical forum, so I'll refrain from mentioning which candidate or political party you seem to be skewering.

In any case, both parties and candidates advocate capitalism, so I wouldn't want to mislead anyone.

[wizwor]

Originally Posted by Chi Cygni

So, there will be say, ereader police? Checking devices on the streets? Maybe we will need ereader licence with photo? Give me a break.

They already have the ability to inventory your device at will. If your reader is connected, it can be policed.

[MrsAmandaK]

I really don't know how they think they will stop people though ...

I have never 'jailbroken' anything but I know people who have and quite frankly I think this will fall into the same lines as the media piracy - you shouldn't do it, and quite possibly someone will 'get in trouble', but the vast majority will continue to do so without consequence.

[elcreative]

Originally Posted by wizwor

They already have the ability to inventory your device at will. If your reader is connected, it can be policed.

So much for the joys of being connected and instant downloads...