We May Soon Be Able to Unlock Android Devices Legally, No More Rooting

Seriously did not see this coming.  The Library of Congress has ruled that jailbreaking and unlocking is legal.

So all those hacking and unlocking that voids warranties, right?  Those days could be numbered.

So this still developing and we’ll find out more about this.  There are a lot of questions.  For instance, if the FTC didn’t have the power to make this happen, how the heck does the Library of Congress have this much power?

Also, did the wireless providers and platforms anticipate this at all?

But wait.  More than that, circumventing DMCA efforts to curtail consumer freedom seems to be the key here.  There are six classes of works specified. I’m going to paraphrase because it’s the government and they’ve got a lot of lawyers.  And through law school, they lost the ability to speak like normal human beings.

• Lawfully acquired movies like those on DVD
• Mobile apps
• Software on computers
• Specifically mentioned computer games
• Computer programs protected by dongles – like what?
• eBooks – literary works

Keep in mind again that we’re talking about legally acquired media and software. As the day goes on, we’ll tweet and discuss this.  Huge huge news!

More at Boy Genius Report.