Many people desire to know whether or not it is legal to Jailbreak iPhone device. The question cannot be answered directly because it depends on the software law of every country in question. Different countries have different laws guiding the operation of software. You need to know the law relative to your country of residence in order not to go against it. This article discusses how legit iPhone jailbreak is and how Apple sees it. Of course, you should not expect Apple to clap for you when you jailbreak iPhone device.
Privilege Escalation :
Before considering whether or not iPhone jailbreak is legal, we need to know what jailbreak is all about. What is jailbreak? It is a form of privilege escalation. When you jailbreak, you move beyond your allowed boundary and access unauthorized places. The word was actually derived from the concept of breaking away from a jail or stronghold. iPhone jailbreak means to break the code binding the kernel of the device. This could be done by patching the kernel.
Apple does not permit you to download files outside the ones provided in iTunes store. It does this for these reasons:
1) If Apple users use applications approved by Apple, the company would increase its sell and therefore make more profit.
2) Apple also seeks to provide security and privacy to its users. You can easily download worms, Trojan and viruses through applications that are not approved by Apple.
3) Some applications when downloaded can decrease your device and its batteryperformances; Apple also seeks to protect you from this.
Is Jailbreak Legal or Not?
Jailbreak is legal in some countries but not legal in some other countries; let’s take a case study from the United States of America. The United States of America’s law permits jailbreak. This is simply done in order to allow users to download applications of their choice to their iPhone device. Once you have purchased the iPhone device, Apple does not have any right over it anymore. Therefore the law gives you right to do whatever you want with it.
However, some other countries of the world do not have the same legal stand with the United States of America in this very aspect. In those countries jailbreak is illegal and punishable under the law. However, people still jailbreak their iPhone in those countries without being noticed.
Apple’s Reaction to iPhone Jailbreak
Hackers are ever ready to jailbreak any newly realized iPhone device. The recently released iPhone 5 & 4s which functions under the platform of iOS 6.X received matched jailbreak software on Monday, 4th of February 2013. This new version of iPhone can best be jailbreak using the untethered jailbreak method.
When you jailbreak iPhone device, you break your agreement with Apple. This simply means that they will not give ears to any complaint you have within the period of warranty. However, in case you want to consult Apple for any reason, all you need to do is to restore the iPhone factory setting before contacting them.
